Stompin' At The Savoy
by Miandrethal
Summary: A Trowa POV and also and AU fic. Trowa is a private detective and everyone else seems a little shady
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was raining that day. My clothes were soaked through because my umbrella broke three days earlier. I hate the rain. I walked into my pathetic office and slew my water soaked trench over my wooden desk chair. I went to switch on the lights, but there was no juice. Shit! I forgot to pay the bill again. Truthfully, I didn't forget, I don't have the cash. There's not much work for a Private Investigator these days and most of the money I did have has been lost on the dog races and my good friend Jack Daniels. I guess I should have saved for a rainy day or something mature like that. Oh well, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. My ammunition of choice, of course, is alcohol. I would go downstairs to the Clover if I could, but Duo won't let me drink this early. He thinks that 10:00am is to early in the day to start drinking; I say it's a good start to a crappy day. Ah well, it's raining anyway; besides, I got a flask of brandy in my desk. I reach into the wooden drawer and retrieve the crystal flask and a large brandy glass. I pour myself the first glass of the day, shake the amber liquid, sniff it and down the whole glass. This is a wakeup better than coffee.

Suddenly, I feel like celebrating. I open the top desk drawer, throwing old bills and various other papers frantically searching for a cigar. Finally, after a few minutes of searching through this mess, I find the cigar and am now elbow deep in trash. Jesus, my office is shitty, it's falling apart. There are more cracks in the ceiling leaking water than I can count, the squeaky, ceiling fan is two rotations away from stopping, and now the lights don't work. I should make the landlord pay me.

I sigh, scratch my head and pull up a half-full trashcan and start to clean the mess off my desk. I pull out my lucky Zippo and light the cigar, steadily puffing the cigar and shuffling papers from my desk to the trash; until something catches my eye. It's an old picture, the back is worn and brown and the picture is torn on one corner. I slowly flip it over and I see her: Cathy. I don't think I can breath. I thought I'd gotten rid of this damned thing a long time ago. I quickly dump all of the paper out of the trashcan, pull out my Zippo and light the picture, watch it burn for a second and toss it into the trash. Instead of putting out the small fire, I pour myself five more glasses of brandy, down them all and pass out on my desk.

*****

It had been Cathy's idea to start the detective agency. I can hear her voice now:

"Trowa, you're so good at it, why don't you just quit the police force and start your own agency. We can open it together and I'll be your assistant." She was always so damned optimistic and her work ethic was unbelievable. She finally convinced me. Three months later I quit the force and the Barton-Bloom Detective Agency was born. It was, admittedly, the happiest day of my life.

 She didn't do much detective work, she merely worked as my assistant as I tracked down the criminals and locked them up. We were a successful team; she even went out and bought a police radio so that we could keep up with the latest mysteries, hoping that those people would put their trusts in us to solve their case. With Cathy's blue eyes and red hair and my expert detective skills, we always had customers and cases and we always solved them. Life was good.

A year after that, my partner on the force, Duo Maxwell, had to resign because he was shot in the leg and would walk with a limp and a cane for the rest of his life. Actually he was shooed away because he was injured and the only thing that they gave him was two months severance pay and a cheap gold watch. I wanted him to come join me in my gumshoe work, promising that he'd get a better deal than a cheap time-keeping trinket. He took me up on the offer and we were partners for about two months until his leg got really bad. On the bright side, he did get a better trinket than a cheap gold watch; he got my sister. She took care of him for two months while he had his bum leg and a romance blossomed. I always knew that Duo had the hots for her, but I never saw Cathy as receptive to his easygoing personality. I, on the other hand, had a stream of beauties ranging from lonely widows to young, struggling actresses. While Duo and Cathy were making wedding plans and picking out China patters, I was fighting off girl after troublesome girl.

After the shortest and smallest wedding known to man, Duo and Cathy decided to get an apartment a block down from mine. Also, Duo decided to open a bar called Clover's below the agency, which incidentally gets more clientele than my business but who cares. We were like stars in this town, everyone knew us and everyone wanted to be us and we were inseparable; so we thought. 

It was the summer; the breeze was blowing and smelled of sweet honeysuckle. We were all together then, Duo and Cathy and me and my sweetheart of the time. The park was a nice place to be that day; it was just perfect for flying kites, something that Cathy loved to do. We decided two days earlier that all four of us would have a picnic. Cathy and Duo would bring the chicken and the alcohol and me and my girl of the hour would bring ourselves. We were all inseparable in those days, Cathy, Duo and I. 

Me and this sexy blonde (I forgot her name) with nice tits and a matching ass met them at the park about an hour later. My auburn hair was messed up, I had large, red lipstick marks all over my face, and her panties were in my suit jacket pocket. Needless to say, when we arrived, I had a huge goofy smile on my face. Luckily Duo had an even larger bottle of White Zinfandel chilling. Cathy already had the citronella candles and blankets laid out and she had just started working on setting out the food when my panty-less blonde and me arrived.

"Trowa, what's up man?" Duo said giving me a hearty hug. Cathy squealed and hugged me just the same. She loved her little brother.

"Who's this?" Cathy asked, eyeing the blonde. She then looked up and noticed that her equally red lipstick mark joined other lipstick marks in a paler shade of red. I didn't blush, but she did. Cathy knew that I was a cad, but loved me anyway.

"This is (insert sexy blonde name here)" I said, I don't think I got her name right that day either. It was Tiffany or Tammy or something equally ditsy sounding and I think she hit me with her purse for forgetting her name. 

After the whole awkwardness of forgetting Blondie's name, we sat down and ate. We discussed petty things like the weather, serious stuff like the war, and even Blondie's job as a shampoo girl for the famous actress Roxy Philips. We laughed, we cried, we debated, and we drank; that day was a good day.

"So, why did you two call this meeting of the Three Musketeers?" I asked after my third glass of wine. There was silence and Cathy blushed and stared between me and Duo. She looked demure and I noticed a glow around her that I'd not noticed before today.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, I haven't been drinking today Trowa…" my mind drifted; could my sister be telling me what I think she is? "Well, there's a reason for that. I'm pregnant, we just found out Monday." It was Saturday. I didn't know what to say, my sister and my best friend were married and were now bringing a child into this world. I was going to be an uncle. This was unbelievable; I don't think I'd ever been so happy before that moment.

"I was speechless too when I first found out." Duo said, patting me on the back. I almost tackled Duo in a manly hug and then hugged my sister in complete happiness. I even hugged Blondie that was sitting next to me congratulating the couple.

"This calls for a celebration. We should make a toast, even you Cathy." I said, pouring the pregnant lady a glass first.

"Trowa, I can't drink when I'm pregnant." She protested and pushed the glass away from me.

"Oh please, mom drank when she was pregnant with me." I continued giving her the drink.

"And look how you turned out." She wouldn't take it.

"One drink is not going to hurt you, especially one toast from one drink." I said, giving her the largest green puppy dog eyes that I could. She conceded and we made a toast to the future and that we'd always be together. We were happy; little did we know that all of that was going to change.

After a few more drinks, I was completely toasted and Blondie had to take me home. It was late anyway, around 6:00pm, and Cathy was busy packing up the stuff. I hugged my best friend and my sister and Blondie drove me home where we proceeded to do it like bunnies until we both passed out.

I didn't wake up until I got the fateful call. It was late that night, I guess around midnight when Duo called me and told me that Cathy was… she was… after all these years I still can't say it. Anyway, I shot up from the bed, kicked Blondie out and got over to the crime scene which happened to be the office. I can remember it so clearly, the sights, the sounds, the smells. It was as if everything and everyone was moving in slow motion. Her blood was everywhere, coating the walls, the floor, the ceiling, but that was all I saw until I stepped into my office. Her beautiful body, her radiant auburn hair, her shimmering blue eyes were all lifeless and dull in a puddle of red blood. I couldn't contain myself; I fell to the ground and cried like a tall, lanky baby. Cathy was all I had, my only connection to childhood and happiness and beauty. She was my life and now she was gone. Duo told me that she'd come down there to pick up some cases to get ahead before Monday. The cops told me she'd been raped and killed and that the killer left a note. I still have it. It's not a note; it's more like a riddle:

What is black and White and Red all over?

Or blue or green or some other surreal dream color.

We can be enemies, I've always wanted to battle the best. 

I hope this got you interested.

That was five years ago and I've been looking for that bastard ever since. Everything that Cathy and I built has gone down the tubes and Duo even has to help me pay the rent. I've turned into an all out drunk and spend most of my nights eating TV dinners and studying the hell out of that note from the killer. My life is nothing without Cathy.

****

"Wake up!" I hear a familiar baritone scream and feel splashes of cold water over my face. I look up groggy and I see the characteristic smile of my good friend Duo. He's a bastard sometimes and this is one of those times.

"Go away asshole, you see I'm on a hangover." I say, looking over at the clock and realizing that it's only been two hours since I passed out.

"What did I tell you about drinking so damned early in the morning." He said and splashes me again with the water. I growl and stare at him again. 

"Why are you up here?" I asked.

"I smelled smoke and figured you'd finally given up and killed yourself. Really Trowa, if you were going to kill yourself, did you really have to try and take the Clover down with you?" he asked and remembered the picture that I burned before I passed out. I look down at the soot-stained trashcan and slammed my head back onto the desk again.

"You look like shit man and so does this office," he says pulling up a chair and straddling it.

"Don't you have a fucking bar to run?" I ask.

"That's what I was doing until I became a volunteer firefighter." He's always a smart-ass with me, "Really Trowa, you need to think about hiring a maid or someone to clean this shit up." He says, his violet eyes scanning the room.

"If I had money for a maid, I would do that. The Detective business is slow." I say muffled from my head being placed on the desk.

"You should just ask man, because this is some repugnant shit. If Cathy were here…" I stop him by slamming my hand on the desk angrily.

"Cathy's not here, Duo. She'll never be here again."

"Look, I know you're still mourning her, but Trowa you've got to move on. If you stay stuck on this you're never going to be happy." He says and I look up at his genuine face.

"There is no happiness without Cathy. I'm sorry that I can't be so flippant about loosing a loved-one." I say. I've hurt him and I know I have. His violet eyes begin to tear and he swallows deep trying to hold the tears inside. I see his lower lip tremble and his fist clench and unclench holding back the anger I'm sure is ready to burst from him.

"Fuck you, Trowa. I miss Cathy too as much as you. But I know that she wouldn't want us to mope around like this. She was always so happy and optimistic and I know she would want us to move on, especially you." Duo's voice is calm. Too bad, I wanted to start a fight today. I guess he's not falling for my tricks this time, so I just lay my head back on the hard mahogany wood and try my best to fall asleep.

"Get up you lanky bastard." I hear Duo say as he splashes more cold water on me. I am more than annoyed and ready to soc Duo in his jaw if he didn't back away quickly. When I'm drunk, I'm a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. 

"Duo, let me go or I'll knock the shit out of you." I say pushing him away from me.

"You'll do no such thing." He says handing me a cup of hot coffee, a cold compress, and a couple of Aspirin. He smiles as I take the coffee and the Aspirin together and put the cold towel over my head.

"I fucking hate you." I say, not meaning a word of it.

"Yeah, well I hate you more." There is a silence while I let the coffee take affect. Duo's still staring around the room and my eyes land on the burnt trashcan again.

"You wanna know what caused this drinking binge? Well, I found that picture of us at the park the day that Cathy was…" my voice fades off as the memories of that night flood. Duo puts a strong arm on my shoulder as my eyes begin to tear.

"Look man, you'll never get over it until you can say it."

"I'll never get over it until I can catch the bastard who did it."

"I guess we all live through grief in our own ways." There is another long silence as we both try not to make eye contact with one another. I can see Duo straining to find something else to focus his eyes on instead of me and failing. At least the awkwardness is broken by the sound of the front door of my office clanging. I can almost hear Cathy's voice greet the prospective client, but Cathy's not here and she never will be again.

Duo sighs in relief at the sound of the bell clanging someone's entrance and decides that this is a good time to get back to his bar.

"Well, I guess I'll get going. You have client and don't fuck this one up like you purposefully did the last two. I'm getting sick of paying your rent. How's about I take you out tonight and we can finish our earlier discussion." I accept his invitation and Duo is out of the door. Just like that, Duo and I are friends again. I get up from my desk and straighten myself up for my client.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The client wasted no time. As soon as Duo was out the door she waltzed into my office without even a moments thought. Not that I minded. She was, for lack of a better word, a man's wet dream. She wasn't extremely tall, but she had long, sexy legs that showed out of the split in her blue dress. He ass was nice, her tits were better and I watched as they bounced while she shook the excess water from her umbrella. She ran a brown, slender hand through her luxurious chocolate hair and finally removed the tortoise shell sunglasses to the top of her head so that I could see the hazel eyes that were shaded underneath. She was trouble, I could smell it radiating off of her like her Chanel perfume.

"Do you have a light?" her first words to me as she held out her cigarette. I was so lost in the silky, lusty sound of her honeyed voice that I couldn't concentrate on what she was asking. 

"Do. You. Have a light?" she asked again. I stammered and frantically searched for my lucky Zippo. Finally I found it and she leaned over the desk so that I could light her cigarette and get a good look at her cleavage.

"How can I help you?" I asked, thanking the Lord that my voice didn't crack. She puffed on her cigarette and let a sheen of smoke out of her mouth before answering.

"I need a private dick." How could she say those words without laughing? This broad was serious and I decided to play it her way.

"I like a woman that knows what she wants." I say, a cocky smile falling on my face.

"I hear you're the best," she said scanning the room, "you can't tell by your surroundings."

"Don't judge a book by its cover." I say, lighting up a cigarette myself.

"I never judge books by their covers, only by the substance of the words." Another puff of smoke left her perfectly colored lips and then she licked her tongue across her teeth. This single act sent a flash of pressure to my groin.

"What do you need me to investigate?" I ask.

"Something very, very, private." She said the last word in a whisper and leaned in closely. So this broad is a bit overdramatic.

"How much you willing to pay?" I ask.

"Anything you want is yours, just name it." You naked right now on my desk would have been my response if I wanted to get slapped in the face.

"Anything? I think you're bluffing." I say, upping the ante a bit. She's not amused. A puff of smoke leaves her mouth as she slams her purse on the desk. She reaches into the sizable handbag and pulls out a stack of one hundred dollar bills. She throws the wad of cash at me and blows another puff of smoke.

"Does this look like bluffing to you?" she says with the toughest voice I've ever heard a broad talk in.

"Definitely not bluffing," I say and sit back down at my desk, "so what is this about?" she calms down, sits down at her chair and puffs away at her second cigarette.

"My husband is missing. I want you to find him." She says.

"What's your husband's name?" I say pulling out a pad and a pen to get down specifics.

"Chang Wufei, you may have heard of him." I stop in my tracks and look up at her. I finally get a chance to get a good look at her, she's the famous mob bosses wife, Roddy Chang.

"Isn't this more of a matter for the police?" I ask, more than apprehensive about taking this case now.

"I can understand your hesitation on taking this case, but you must grasp the reason as to why I've come to you. Seeing as the nature of my husband's occupation is not exactly lawful and he might have disappeared because of unlawful dealings, it would be foolish of me to report his missing to the authorities. I heard from many sources that you're the best that there is and since I'm paying you more than a missing persons case should cost and half up front at that, I was expecting less trepidation." She said, not breaking a sweat. This broad was definitely trouble.

"You expect me to risk my life for a measly ten large?" I asked a bit ticked at her assumption, "I'm not your whore. You can take your money and your trouble to someone else." I obviously pissed her off, because she got up quickly, grabbed the money from my desk and walked out. I sat at my desk thinking about the amount of money that I'd just let walk out of the door. I hit the palm of my hand against my forehead, jumped from my desk, grabbed my trench and went running after her. I flew down the stairs; I could still smell her perfume in the air. I ran out the door and saw her walking down the sidewalk to a waiting car.

"Hey! Wait!" I screamed and she turned, cigarette in hand.

"I hope you're not asking me to reconsider taking you as my Investigator." She said as a man opened a door for her.

"I've re-evaluated your offer. I want forty large and half now."

"I'll give you twenty and only when you find something." She said, negotiating the terms with me.

"Thirty five and half now."

"Twenty five when you find a clue, I'm not paying you to sit on your ass."

"Thirty large, fifteen up front, that's only policy."

"Thirty large, seventy-five hundred up front and not anything else until you find something. If you find nothing, you only get the seventy-five hundred." She puffed again. Maybe it was the smoke in my eyes, or the way her calves looked in those heels, but I took the deal.

"It's a deal, you sure do drive a hard bargain." I say, shaking her hand.

"Good, now let's take a drive." She pushes me into the black Rolls Royce and tells the driver to go as soon as we're securely in the car.

"What's this all about?" I ask.

"I'm being followed, cops and mobsters alike, this is so that no-one hears our conversation. Like I said before, my husband wasn't exactly a law-abiding citizen. If the cops find out that my husband is gone, they'll try a bust. The mobsters are following me just to follow."

"Great," I say with little enthusiasm. I turn around and look out of the back window and see two cars following us. She was right we are being followed. What have I gotten myself into? I decide to play it cool.

"Give me a description of your husband." I say, breaking out a pad and pen.

"He's Chinese. His height is around 5'8; he has shoulder length black hair that he usually wears in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Eyes so dark brown that they appear black; extremely handsome but a little boisterous." I couldn't have asked for a better description of every Asian person that lived in the area.

"Does he have any known enemies?"

"He's a mob boss, what do you think?" she asked.

"Point taken. Where and when was the last time you saw him?" I asked.

"He was getting ready for work exactly a week ago."

"So he's been missing for a week."

"That's what I said." I ignored the attitude this time and kept with the questioning.

"Does he have any other… um… how do I put this… ladies?" I hate asking this question. She winced and took a long drag from her cigarette.

"Yeah. A black-haired, blue-eyed lounge singer at the Savoy, they call her Persephone. She's the main attraction every weekend at midnight. Are we quite finished with twenty questions?"

"I just want you to get your money's worth." I'm such a smartass, "yes, we're finished.

"Good." She stopped the car and let me out on the curb with a screech. After ten minutes of watching the car drive away in a puff of smoke, it dawned on me; this broad left me on the side of the road. She left me on the side of the road, in the middle of the seedy part of town, about five miles away from my office. And even now, I don't think I can wipe this stupid grin off my face; I think I'm in love. I stood there for a moment taking in the scenery of the old Industrial District, the grin still plastered on my face. I look at my watch and it reads a quarter to one and I realize that I'm hungry. Surveying the surroundings again, I realize that a bar is open and I walk the five yards towards the door. I can't see the sign because the fog has settled low today, and I'm sure that it will be raining when I come out.

I step into the swanky joint, the moist gray of the outside being swallowed by the darkness of the bar. It takes my eyes a few seconds to adjust, and I take off my hat and trench coat and hang them on the hook next to the door. I walk towards the illuminated bar and lay eyes on the second most beautiful lady I've seen today. She was wearing tight black pants an equally tight white shirt and the customary bartender apron. Her hair was long and thick, I could tell, even though she had it in a tight, brown bun at the nape of her neck.

"What'll it be?" she asked. Her brown eyes seemed to shine under the track lighting as she asked me.

"Whiskey straight." I say with a smile.

"Early drinker?" she says looking at the clock and pouring me the drink.

"Alcoholic." I say downing half of the whiskey in my first sip.

"That's even better. You're new here. What's a handsome, green-eyed devil like you doing here at 1:00 in the afternoon?"

"Are you flirting with me?"

"I flirt with all of my customers, it gets them to buy more booze." I smile at her and can't resist.

"Hit me again Damn you're good." She makes me another drink and I finish that one quickly.

"So, what are you doing here, stranger?"

"The name's Barton and let's just say I got dropped here."

"Are you in trouble with someone down here, Mr. Barton?"

"No, not trouble. So, what's your name gorgeous?"

"My friends call me Jin, but you can call me later." She smiles again.

"I suppose you want me to buy another drink?"

"What do you think?" she says licking her tongue across her teeth seductively.

"I think I'm weak." I say and she pours me another drink.

"If you're not in trouble, then you must be looking for trouble. By your washed out blue suit I can tell you're a P.I." she says picking up a white towel and drying off the wet glasses.

"Yep, you have a good eye." I say finishing my third drink in eight minutes.

"Who are you looking for?" she asks.

"I don't know if you can help me or not. Well, maybe you can. Do you know where the Savoy is?" I ask feeling a bit tipsy from those three drinks. She begins to giggle and slams down a large glass on the bar. 

"You're joking right? This is the Savoy. Has one of the girls gotten into trouble again?" she asks genuinely concerned.

"No, I just need to question a singer. Persephone, I believe that's what her name is." Her eyes widened and she smiled.

"Well, you've come to the right place, but I'm afraid that she's skipped town last week. Trust me, you're not the only one looking for her."

"Well, can I speak with the owner?" I ask.

"He's back east until tonight. Tell you what, come back later tonight, catch a show and I'll make sure I'll hook you up with some time. I'm sure he'll be willing to help as much as we want to find Persephone; she's cost us all a lot of money running off like that." I stand from the bar stool and wobble a bit.

"I'm sure she has. Thanks for the cooperation." I say and wobble towards the front of the door.

"Hey, what's your name again?" she screams from behind the bar. I turn to face her and smile.

"Trowa Barton." I close the door behind me and look up the large sign that hangs just over the large entrance. It reads: "SAVOY." I should have known that Chang broad didn't bring me out here for nothing. I walk to the nearest open street and hail myself a cab back to the office. I need to get a suit from Duo for this meeting with the bar owner.

****

When I get back to the office, Duo is sitting outside of his bar smoking one of the largest cigars I've ever seen. I can tell he's been cleaning up a bit because there is broom and dustpan leaning up against the front door of the CLOVER.  I can also tell because he has his modest sleeves rolled up past his forearm and he's wearing his pageboy cap. When he sees me he smiles the same genuine smile that he always does.

"What are you doing riding back in a cab? I thought I saw you leaving in a Rolls almost two hours ago?" he says releasing a large puff smoke.

"That dame is nothing but trouble." 

"You didn't ruin it did you?" he asks puffing on the cigar once again.

"No, I didn't ruin it. I took the case; I have seventy-five hundred to start. It's just that she's that mobster Chang's wife. He's been missing for a week." He doesn't look surprised at all he just puffs away on that damn cigar like a chimney.

"Jesus Trowa," he says patting me on the back, "looks like you got your work cut out for you. The mob is pretty thorough; they usually don't leave any stone unturned. Are you drunk?"

"No. Which brings me to another thing, will you accompany me to the Savoy tonight?" I ask and he looks at me with large, violet eyes.

"The Savoy? You mean that swanky night club in the Industrial District?"

"Yes, that same Savoy." I answer.

"Of course I will. I'll just get Ted to take over for tonight at the Clover. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Don't forget I'm on a case, this is for the job."

"Then I'll be on my best behavior." He says and puffs his last on the cigar before putting it out next to his foot and sweeping it into the gutter. 

"I guess I'll see you tonight. Oh yeah, and wear that pinstripe suit that Cathy always thought you looked good in. We have to look the part of big gangsters if we're going to play with the big boys." I say over my shoulder as I walk up the stairs towards my office. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Jesus Duo, hurry up!" I scream from the sitting room in his apartment. I hate coming here to visit him, the smell always reminds me of Cathy; the spicy, warm orange smell that always tinges your nose or reminds you of better days. It doesn't help that the bastard still has pictures of her up too; just various picture frames scattered around the place. Some are sitting on the radio the others are peppering the walls with memories of days past. Just looking at them makes me want to punch a hole in the wall. I guess I should rush Duo so that I don't take myself up on this sick urge.

He must have read my mind because I hear his bedroom door open and see him emerge in a plum colored suit with light gray pinstripes; it's amazing how good Duo looks when he actually takes pride in his appearance. I can see what took him so long; he had to shave his face.

"Thinking about getting some tail tonight?" I ask with a slight smirk on my usually stoic face. He glances back at me under the bridge of his fedora hat and smiles.

"Only if you are."

"You ready to go?" I ask getting up from my comfortable seat on the sofa.

"Yep, let's get the hell out of here." He pulls some keys from his pocket and throws them my way. I catch them expertly with one hand.

"What's this?" I ask him.

"Keys to the car."

"We're not driving Cathy's old Cadillac are we?" I ask.

"Yep, we are. We have to roll up in style, I refuse to take a cab to this swanky joint." I roll my eyes in complete disdain. I don't say much else as I grab my jacket from the hook and exit the apartment.

We walk downstairs into the foggy night, the lamppost an illuminated blur in the haze. I know exactly where the car is parked. I remembered seeing it the last day it was driven; Cathy's funeral. Duo had taken cabs or walked to work ever since; I guess he feels as if he can live again. I still don't feel right driving this thing. But damn is it a beautiful peace of machinery. I look at the silver chrome and the shiny paint finish and am utterly excited that Duo chose this time to take it for a resurrecting drive around the town. The only thing missing is Cathy, but I can't think about that now, I have a job to do.

"Get in the car Trowa." Duo says and I realize that I'm still standing about three feet away from the car. I quickly walk up to the car and get in buckling up my seatbelt and taking in a sharp breath. Duo pats me on the back and I look at him.

"Breathe easy Tro, everything is going to be okay. We're going to have fun tonight." He says and starts the car. He backs up carefully and we're off towards the Industrial District. I can't believe I ask the party animal Duo to come with me to work. Oh well, he was always fun when we used to party together on the force. I look up in about twenty minutes and we're at the Savoy. There are cars backed up for about two miles and I can see the bright red lights of the nightclub. People are wrapped around the entrance and I hope that we don't have to wait in that line. Duo finds a secure parking space and we head towards the entrance.

Duo, being the smartass that he is, waltzes straight to the front of the line and confronts the bouncer. I follow my braided friend and wait for the bouncer to reject his sorry ass to the back of the line. But before Duo can even say anything a large, white, new model 1935 Bentley Sedanca coup pulls up and the raucous crowd quiets down to see who's going to be exiting the beautiful vehicle. The driver exits and walks to the back of the car and opens the door. There is a dead silence as the crowd waits to see the passengers in the vehicles; no doubt these people are important. A small white heel emerges followed by a pale white leg that is draped under a long, white dress and a feather boa. It's Relena Peacecraft, one of the most sought after Hollywood starlets that there are. I can hear various whispers around me talking about her latest movie. A man accompanies her dressed also in a white suite with black pinstripes with a white fedora to match his suit. He's blonde is all that I can see as he brushes past me and the bouncer into the Savoy.

"I don't care who they are, we should be able to go in just as much as them." I can hear Duo chastise the poor bouncer over the roar of the crowd. The bouncer is about to kick Duo's ass before someone comes by and tells him to let a few people in. The bouncer, only following orders, opens the door and allows both Duo, me, and three ladies entrance into this highly exclusive night club; just to think that I had free reign of the Savoy only hours earlier.

As soon as we step into the place a man is waiting to take our coats. Of course we tip him the customary five dollars. We step around a red velvet curtain and are finally inside. A man is waiting to show us to our seats as we come from behind it. I try not to act surprised by the beauty of this place, but I am really taken aback, not as much as Duo though. If Duo were a dog, he'd be wagging his tail. I don't blame him, the ambience is amazing, and whoever the owner is must be a classy guy. There are lights illuminating the bar and the stage where a large big band sits ready to play. There are small tables placed strategically around the bar. I can see a room in the distance that reads casino and know instantly to keep Duo away from that place. He'd lose the Clover if I let him. The place is covered in red; it seems to be the color of choice. 

The man asks again if he can show us to our seats. I give him my name and he points us to our tables. I don't remember making a reservation; I guess the pretty bartender did it for me. As the man shows us to our table I notice many famous and infamous faces. Of course, there's the Peacecraft chic, and she's way too hot, even for me. Then there's the infamous Miyako the Blade walking from the casino room, he's one of Heero Yuy's flunkies. I watch him as he goes to a rounding booth and see Heero Yuy sitting there in a mix of guys and dolls and he's not even saying a word; that guy is so fucking intense that he makes my eyes twitch.  I'm not surprised that so many gangsters find there way here, I heard about this place a few years after I left the force when it was just opening. It's obviously a haven for criminals.

We finally reach our seats, in the very front close enough to the band that some of the light is shining on our table. The band is playing that new Duke Ellington song, something that has to do with "swing," and Duo has just ordered a Prime rib with the best cognac that they have.

"So, what do you think?" I ask him.

"I think you should get to work." He replies still looking around like a kid in a candy shop.

"I will as soon as I can spot the owner. I'm sure he's a busy man." I say as I see our drinks arrive. The cute waitress places Duo's cognac in front of him and my whiskey in front of me and I tip her casually.

"So this is where all the beautiful people hang out. I could get used to this. Did you see that Relena Peacecraft, she's got some fucking gams on her doesn't she?" I don't think I'm going to be able to get used to this Duo; he hasn't been around in a while, but I like him already.

"Why don't you go talk to her?" I say knowing that he won't. He almost chokes on his cognac.

"Whatever, she's a fucking movie star man, I'm a lowly bartender. Besides, she was with that blonde guy, lucky bastard."

"I guess you're right." I survey the room and see three women staring directly at Duo. He's always been the lady killer of the two of us, I'm not far behind though. I also see the pretty bartender. She's not tending bar; she's standing by the entrance talking with the guy that seated us. We catch eyes and she smiles again. After a while I see her making her way over towards our table. She looks completely different as she draws closer; her hair is down and falling over her shoulders in a brown cascade, she is wearing a red dress, and her lips are done in a sexy red color that I always found attractive on somewhat paler women.

"So, Mr. Barton, how do you like the Savoy?" she asks as she shimmies her way over to our table. Duo and I stand and I offer her a seat, but she refuses.

"I'm liking it." I say, trying to play it cool. She smirks.

"Who's your friend?"  She gives a smirk towards Duo's direction and he almost melts.

"This is Duo Maxwell, a good friend of mine. Duo this is Jin." Duo being the sweet talker stands, takes her hand and plants a kiss on the back of it. I just roll my eyes.

"What a charmer." Jin says with a sultry tone.

"You don't know the half." I hear Duo say under his breath and I'm pretty sure she heard him too.

"Well, I have to go. I'll let the boss know that you're hear, he should be with you in a minute, he's just taking care of some business." She says and walks off before I can thank her. Duo watches her walk away.

"What a hot doll, do you meet dames like that all the time?" he says, still watching her hips sway in that unbelievably flattering red dress.

"Well, you know me." Pretty soon, our food comes and we dig in to the best steaks that we've ever eaten. They are like butter and taste even better. After about twenty minutes of stuffing our faces, we relax with some more alcohol and watch the show. The band goes through about ten songs, all with that Jazzy big band sound; they even have a mediocre female singer every once and a while.

I am startled by a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see another large man standing behind me with his hands crossed over his broad chest. I'm a pretty tall guy, but I have nothing on this man.

"Boss wants to see you," he says. I'm thinking it's about time that this man fit me into his busy schedule. I get up from my chair and nod a reassuring nod at Duo. I let the large man lead me to a backroom where he tells me to wait. I'm out there for only five minutes before the big man reemerges and pats me down for any weapons. He then pushes me into the office where I stand with the big man's hands on my shoulders. 

"Is all of this really necessary?" I ask with a scowl. He doesn't say anything. Rather I hear a tenor voice boom from behind a large desk and an even larger leather chair.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience Mr. Barton, please have a seat." The man turns around and I can see clearly that he was the man that accompanied Ms. Peacecraft from the Bentley. I sit down quickly and look him over memorizing the features. He has strikingly blonde hair, even more striking blue eyes and a rather handsome smile. No wonder the Peacecraft dame is with him, he's one of the beautiful people too. He doesn't look like much of a hard ass, but you can never tell in this day and age.

"Please, have a cigar," he says offering me one from his rather long, gold cigar case.

"Thanks." I say in appreciation.

"I'm Quatre Raberba Winner, the owner and operator of the Savoy and various other businesses in the area." He lights his cigar and starts to puff. 

"Glad to meet you." I say stoically. He smiles.

"A man with a permanent poker face, do you gamble, Mr. Barton?"

"Doesn't everyone?" I'm just full of smart-ass comments today. A low laugh escapes his lips.

"Yes, well, I here that you are searching for my lovely song bird Persephone." He says in an almost dreamy voice.

"Yeah, can I ask you a few questions?" I ask pulling out my always-handy notepad.

"Yes, but only if you answer some of mine first." He says with a chortle. I roll my eyes, why did I think that I would get something for nothing with this guy?

"Good. Who is this investigation for?" he looks me square in the face.

"Wufei Chang's wife." I say.

"Ah yes, Roddy. She's a beautiful women, more than classy." He says in a voice that makes me wonder.

"Did you two have a relationship?" I ask.

"Yes, her husband would come into the Savoy every weekend bringing her along. I could tell that she hated being here, listening to his boring dealings. It got even worse after Chang started fucking Persephone. Roddy is a strong women though, she just ignored the Chinese bastard." This little blonde has a dirty mouth.

"Did you two have a relationship?" I ask, always wanting to find a connection; I guess that's the detective in me.

"Off the record," he looks and waits for me to stop writing, "yes, but only once."

"So, what's this Persephone girls real name?" I ask trying to get back on subject.

"Hilde. Hilde Schbeiker. She ran off about a week ago giving me this letter." He says reaching into his desk and pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. I look down at the chicken scratch writing:

_Sorry bossman, had to blow town for a little while._

                                                                           Persephone 

"This is it?" I ask.

"That's all she left."

"So tell me everything you know about Chang." He smiles at me again like a Cheshire cat.

"I can't tell you everything I know about Chang, I'll be killed. He was into some dirty dealings with the other families; some bad blood came up between them."

"I can read that in the papers." I say sarcastically.

"Well, that's all the information I can give without being left twisting in the wind. You can understand that, cant you?" he's right, I wouldn't want to put him in danger.

"I'll try, but I do need more information than that." I know that he doesn't want me coming around his club often. Having an ex-cop, now detective snooping around would only mean trouble. I can see him thinking about what he can and can't tell me.

"Off the record, Chang was into some deep deal with the other two families about some riverfront property on the upper north side. He came to me to see if I would sell the Savoy and move it elsewhere. I told him no because the land was cheaper here. The other families weren't buying it either, but I really don't know what happened to him. If you ask me, Roddy has a better chance finding him floating in the river than she does having you snoop around and ask questions."

"What was the bad blood?" I ask.

"Now that, I can't tell you. I've already told you too much. Why don't you ask Roddy what type of dealings her husband was into before you go snooping around anymore." I realize the predicament this man has already put himself into and I respect it. 

"How long was your lounge singer being a charity girl to Mr. Chang?" I ask rather vulgarly.

"Hilde is a charity girl to any man that has the right price. But I think she was Chang's actual mistress. There has been many times when I had to save her from a hot-blooded pimp. But when she was at her peak with Chang, she had the best bodyguards that money could buy…" he stops for a moment because another large bodyguard comes behind him and whispers something inaudible into his ear. He nods to his bodyguard.

"You really must excuse me, something has come up. It seems as if I need to be going. We can continue this chat at a later date, just set up a time with Jin, Rashid will give you the number on the way out. It has been delightful talking with you, so delightful that everything that you and your friend ordered is on the house." He quickly walks out of the room and I can see Ms. Peacecraft waiting for him as he exits. There are men standing and waiting to help him with his coat and hat; he's a gracious, hard-nosed businessman I can tell you that. I exit soon after, Rashid having slipped me the number and pushed me out of the back office. I see Duo waiting for me somewhere close to the entrance; he has a girl on each arm, I assume one for the each of us. I shake head at him and turn around; right into the sexiest silver dress I've ever seen.

"Funny running into you here." She says blowing a puff of smoke. Her hair is up in a French roll and she's wearing one of the most expensive necklaces I've ever seen.

"Yeah, this is a coincidence." I say.

"Why don't you stay a while and have another drink? I like the ensemble that you're wearing, the green in that shirt and tie brings out the green in your eyes." Why do the sexiest women always sound so dangerous?

"I've already had too many drinks, but thanks for asking, Ms. Chang." 

"You know you can call me Roddy, Trowa. There should be no formalities between us, since you're probably going to be snooping around in my dirty laundry anyway." I smile at that.

"I talked with Mr. Winner." I say and she smiles in that fond sort of way that women tend to smile in when thinking of a past lover.

"You did, how is he? I hope he didn't tell you too much."

"Why didn't you tell me that you and your husband frequented this bar?" more skeptical of this woman than I already am.

"That's your job, isn't it?" she says again in that sassy way. I can't help it but she's turning me on with every puff of her cigarette.

"Regardless, you need to start telling me everything." I say, a bit upset now.

"Fine, I will have Li pick you up in a car tomorrow at 2:00. You can ask me all the questions that you need know. Right now, I just want to have some fun, if you will excuse me." She brushes by me, letting her firm, round ass brush up against my groin. I notice that she's walking towards' Yuy's table; that's another question to ask her tomorrow.

Duo breaks my concentration on Roddy as he runs up behind me with only one girl now.

"Who was that?" he asks.

"My client. I need to get home and get some sleep, I have a busy day tomorrow." I say turning to see a drunk Duo and an even drunker dame in a lip-lock. I pull Duo away from her and usher him out the door. He screams over his shoulder and mine that he'll call her. I know that he won't; his hangover tomorrow won't allow him to. Well, at least he had a good time.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I woke the next day to the sound of knocking on my door. I quickly jumped out of bed and threw on some boxers to go answer the door. I swung open the wooden frame and was met by a man half my size. The poor man looked frightened and I almost felt for him; almost.

"What?" I asked, my eyes narrowing. I hate being woken from my sleep, and last night had been a long night. The man took a step back and inhaled three times before he could speak, and when he did speak, he stuttered.

"S-sir, I-I … Ms. Ch-Ch-Chang asked my to p-pick y-you up." He finally got that damned sentence out. At greater observation of this tiny man, I realized that he was indeed Asian. I should have known that she would send the damn driver before I got up. I scratched my head and told Li to wait outside while I threw on some clothes. I wasn't dressing to impress Ms. Chang so I just threw on some simple gray slacks and a white button-down shirt. I opened the door, startling poor Li again. After he finally calmed down he led me to the Black Rolls Royce waiting outside, opened my door for me and drove me towards the Chang residence. I could get used to this.

On the ride over there a few things ran through my mind. Questions about the day before, such as: why had Roddy dropped me off coincidentally at the Savoy? What was the riverfront property that Mr. Winner had mentioned Chang wanted to purchase? And lastly, why, if the three-segmented families were at war, did Roddy have such a close connection with Heero Yuy, the Yakuza boss? All these questions and more I was planning to ask Roddy when we got there. 

Along with those work-oriented questions, I also thought about how I was going to deal with the sexual tension between me and Ms. Chang. She is beautiful and I love beautiful women; they make my heart sing, and she was the most beautiful woman that I'd seen in a long time. She reminded me of this girl I dated when I was on the force. This dame I used to date was smart and confident and didn't take shit from me, just like Roddy. But Roddy was different. There's an element of danger involved with fooling around with her. I'm sure that Mr. Winner felt the same way about screwing her, although I'm sure he gets his share of beautiful women. I know this conversation shouldn't even be going along in my head, but being alone with a beautiful, flirty, dangerous woman is a hazard that makes me want more. I guess Duo was right when he said that I was in over my head.

With a jerk Li parked the car. I suppose I shouldn't tell Roddy that her driver is a bit on edge. I'm sure she knows. Li comes to the back door and opens it for me; I don't think that I'll ever get used to that. I step out and he directs me to the top of the stairs. From the outside this place is intense. Let's just say that this is definitely the home of a Chinese mob boss. The home is traditional Chinese architecture; small awnings and a large courtyard adorn the front of the house. I stepped inside of the gate and was met with the smell of blossoming trees and large amounts of bamboo. I stood there for a while, wondering where these people got the money from then shrugged my shoulders and walked towards the entrance into the house. I rang the bell and another Chinese man answered the door; this time the man was tall and large.

"Yes." He asked and looked me over.

"I'm here to see Ms. Chang." I say coolly. He looks me over again, grunts and lets me enter.

"Wait here." He says and I look around the room once more. There are cherry wood chairs and plush, cream carpet. Large, black screens with peaceful scenes etched in them adorn the room. There is bamboo everywhere and large lanterns are hanging from the ceiling.

"Aw, no suit for me today." I hear her say from behind me. I turn and look at her. She's even more beautiful than I can remember. She's wearing a traditional Chinese dress. It's black and has a large, red dragon traveling south his tail starting at the top and his head getting larger and more detailed towards the bottom. There are slits up both sides and the dress shows a modest amount of leg. Her hair is up with two black chopsticks, yet she has two small wisps framing her hair. Her makeup is light and modest, if she's wearing any at all.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that this was a formal occasion." I say with a smartass tone. She smiles and drapes herself across the couch.

"Nice place you got here." I say walking towards the couch.

"Oh this old place." She pats the seat next to her; I opt to take the couch across. I see her pout with disdain, then she smiles again.

"Shall we get started." I say pulling out my pad and pen. She sits up quickly and tries to look serious.

"I'm ready when you are," the soft, sexy tone that she used sent shivers up my spine, but I have to keep my mind on the goal.

"Why didn't you tell me that you and your husband frequented the Savoy?"

"I didn't think that it made a difference to the case."

"What? I said tell me everything. Important people that I believe could be involve in your husband's disappearance frequent that place as well."

"Like who?" she said and I see her pull a gold cigarette case from her pocket.

"Well, Heero Yuy for instance. Aren't the Triads, Yakuza, and the Cosa Nostra at war?" She giggled at this and I only stared stoically at her.

"Heero and I are old friends." She said in a seductive tone that couldn't be mistaken for anything else other than lust.

"How many men have you slept with other than your husband."

"What makes you think that I slept with Heero?"

"Your tone of voice, switch of body language." I say.

"You're so skeptical. Only Quatre. Heero and I are just good friends."

"Why didn't you tell me that you slept with Mr. Winner?"

"I didn't think that it was relevant to the case. I don't see how this information affects the objective at all. Besides, that was only once with Quatre, I'm in search of my husband."

"Have you ever thought that maybe he and this Persephone dame ran away together?"

"I know they didn't. He left his sword here with me. He said that if he were to ever leave me that the sword would be gone. It's still here." She nodded her head in the direction of the fireplace and I looked at the large, looming sword that hung over the mantel. She was right it was still there.

"You and he have a strange relationship."

"Not as strange as some marriages. I'm married to a mob boss; I knew some of the moral implications to that, but I loved him all the same. No matter what happens in our marriage- infidelity or otherwise- we still come back to one another."

"So basically you two don't care if the other fucks around?"

"To put it crudely, no, we don't." she smiled as the servant brought her tea. She sipped it cordially.

"Tell me about this Winner fellow."

"He's blonde, handsome, smart. He's everything that a woman could want, in bed and in public. He's also nothing to do with the mob and my husband's disappearance so I would like it if you would kindly leave him out of this. He just owns that godforsaken club."

"How do you know?"

"He's a businessman not a mobster."

"I've seen many a businessman turn into a mobster." 

"I'm sure you've seen a lot of things, but Quatre is… just leave him out of this." She says taking a long, nervous drag from her cigarette. I reach over and grab the small, handle less teacup and she pours me some green tea.

"Why are you so nervous?" I ask, seeing that it catches her off guard. She takes another long drag from her cigarette.

"The questions you ask would make any person nervous. Quatre is very dear to me and I wouldn't want anything to happen to him." She says looking down into her half-empty teacup. I give her a minute and she returns her focus to me. Actually, she returns her focus to the picture behind me.

"I'm sorry, but I need to know everything about you and your husbands life- dirty laundry or otherwise- before I can even begin on this case. Finding these types of things out from others makes you look more like a suspect than anything else. I just need your cooperation." She looks up, takes a long breath and sighs deeply.

"Why don't we take a break from this? I need to take a walk and I guess I could show you the house." She says standing from the couch and stretching her arms and legs like a cat. I stare at the curves of her body through that thin, satin dress. She's not wearing a bra; I suppose that the dress is tight enough up top that she doesn't need to and any other man wouldn't have noticed, but I'm not any other man. Her hips were clinging slightly to the thin material and the slits on the side only showed a modest amount of delicious, creamy caramel brown leg. Her hair was up in a tight bun at the nape of her neck and she looked good enough to eat. The image of throwing her down on that couch and ravishing her better than her husband or the twit Winner was running through my mind, and it took a hell of a lot of self-control not to do it. She smiles, noticing that I was checking her out and saunters towards the glass door that leads to the lavish courtyard that I just left. I watch that beautiful ass jiggle and I realize that I'm now giving into the same temptation that I promised myself in the car not to even contemplate. Oh well, to hell I go; if the woman offers I damn well not turning her down. 

We step into the courtyard and as soon as we're out there she puts on these black, satin slippers. I hadn't noticed that she was barefoot earlier; what a detective I am. She bends down to pick up a watering pitcher and smiles as me when she starts her trek around the garden. I follow her, watching as she waters some plants and neglects others.

"You know, Mr. Barton, you could get yourself over your head if you don't watch out. You're in with some extremely powerful people. None of which wouldn't think twice about snuffing you out and your friend as well," she says this without any tone of voice and the words actually scare me.

"That's the job of a private detective; we don't have the luxury of being police." I said catching up to her side and waiting for her to water the sweet-smelling blossoms that were just budding.

"You were on the force once, though, why did you leave?" she asked, turning to stare me in the face. I wince visibly at the thought of Cathy.

"Did I bring back some bad memories?" she asks, her eyes searching my face for some answer. I lift my head to see the hazel orbs staring at me and I smirk.

"My sister, she's the one that helped me open the agency. The guy you saw last night was her husband." I say, hoping that this will suffice.

"Was her husband? Did they divorce?" she asks; she's pretty damn good detective in her own right.

"No, my sister, Cathy, was killed." I say. She stops in her tracks.

"I did bring back some bad memories. I'm so sorry." The silence is thick and the tension is even thicker as we stroll around the courtyard. The birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming. If someone was spying on her, they would have thought that she and I were lovers; the scene is not lost on me. She walks to a small pond in the middle of the courtyard and starts to feed the koi that are swimming freely.

"These were gifts from Heero Yuy. He loves to breed these fish and these were some of his best." She says pointing at the randomly colored fish. Then she walks to a small bench under a cherry blossom tree and sits down. I go join her quickly, after taking a small glimpse at the koi.

"We must not let our pasts haunt us, that is something that Wufei always tells me." She said as I came to join her on the bench.

"What kind of man is your husband?" I ask. She looks at me and smiles a fond smile. I can tell that she actually loves this man.

"Strong and stubborn, a real bastard really…" she trails off and looks down at her hands, they are shaking.

"Then why are you still with him?" I ask. She looks at me and smiles again.

"There are times when he's just perfect and gentle and loving. Those times I can't say are often, but when he is I know he loves me." I can see tears start to water into her eyes and offer her a handkerchief. I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she smiles.

"Thank you. What more do you need know?" she asks, getting back to business. I guess she needed some fresh air like I did. I pull out my pad of questions once again and scan the list. She's waiting patiently for me to get my act together.

"Quatre mentioned that he wanted him to sell the Savoy. Why?" I ask. Her eyebrow cocks and she gets a smirk of disapproval on her face.

"He was trying to pull all of the three families together to buy some riverfront property. Quatre is one of the most wealthy men in the city, if he moved the Savoy to the property there would be more money coming in."

"What kind of business does Winner do at the Savoy?"

"Hn. You ought to know, you were there." She said.

"Whore, gambling, the rest seems legit. It has to be for him to be hanging around with Peacecraft." Her smile was unmistakably wicked. The look seemed to scream: foolish boy.

"The Cosa Nostra push spank through Winners club." She said.

"Merquise wasn't there last night." I replied, but she still kept giving me that look.

"You didn't look hard enough. His wife, Lucrezia, was there. But I doubt that they have anything to do with my husband's disappearance. Really and truly, I don't have a clue who could be behind my husband's disappearance. The "bad blood," that the papers so heavily displayed in their newsstands and newsreels were an over dramatized farce. The "bad blood" was only in everyone's heads."

"Then why is your husband missing, with one of Winner's girls no less?" I asked, looking her directly in the eye. I was sure she was giving me some kind of clue, but I couldn't tell. Maybe I should find a way to speak to Yuy, without her knowing.

"That's your job," a servant came in and handed her a letter. She quickly opened it and her eyes lit up, "I have somewhere to be in an hour. I'm sorry to divest of you so quickly, but this is really a pressing and important untimely engagement. Li will see you out." She says as she stands from the bench and quickly runs into the house. Li does, in fact, show me out and I realize that in this hour that I was conversing with Ms. Chang that I didn't find out one complete answer to any of the questions; this woman was better than any politician, and potentially more dangerous.


	5. Chapter 5

To Mrs. Chang's disappointment I decided to involve Mr. Winner in my sleuthing. I basically had no choice; he was the only person that would give me answers to questions. Besides, the guy was just so generous with his cash. So, three days after talking with Roddy, I made an appointment with Mr. Winner and was on my way to his humble abode, if you can call a three-story mansion humble.

It was a nice place on Shiprock Lake, a white house with marble columns a large plush garden and a gate complete with guards in front of it. This made entering with a taxi difficult and the guards at the black, metal gate made me walk the rest of the way towards the mansion. When I finally reached the front door I noticed the same white Bentley from the club; I knew that I was in the right place. I walked past the large, marble columns towards the door with a large camel as a knocker. The same large, burley man that patted me down at the club answered the door. You'd think that Mr. Winner, being the smooth businessman, would make it customary for his men to shave. I suppose that this guy was the ruler of the crew and Winner's personal bodyguard so it didn't matter whether he shaved or not. Besides, who would mess with this man, he was the size of a barn.

"Detective Barton, I have an appointment with Mr. Winner," I said flipping my badge so that he could see it. The tough, grim face of the large man quickly dispersed into that of a smirk and he stepped from his barricade of the door and allowed me entrance. The Winner's house was amazing. It was something that I would personally want to have. Sure, the Chang's residence was fit for a Chinese mob boss, but Winner's place was fit for a king. I was in the foyer, that's what rich people call the front room, and there were expensive paintings hanging on a  gray-colored wall.  

"Yeah, I remember you. You're the same guy from the club," the big guy said closing the door behind me and leading me into the main part of the mansion, "I'm Rashid, I'm sorry for roughing you up at the club, but need to protect my boss, you know." So the big guy's name was Rashid. He reached out his large palm to mine and I shook it and he offered me a simple grin, I returned him with a smirk. My expectations of this house were more that I could have bargained for. He had one large staircase that split at the top leading people to either the east or west wing of the house; the kind that you see on the movies or in rich hotels. There were palm trees adorning the staircase, the green leaves contrasting with the gold of the railing. At the top of the staircase, there was a large painting of Mr. Winner or someone that looked exactly like him contrasting the red of the wall behind it. Now that I survey closer, the whole place was red like the Savoy. The whole place was, in fact, set up like a Middle Eastern palace. There were lush multi-colored pillows adorning the soft couch. The drapes that were hanging on the windows were different colors that I hadn't seen before. There was a strange purple-reddish color and a blue-greenish color. There were vivid yellows and cool blues and greens. Everything reminded me of Arabian Knights.

"This is a nice place," I say looking at Rashid. The tall man looked down at me and smiled.

"I'll take you to Mr. Winner, he should be in his room," We walk up the large staircase about two flights, passing the painting. I got a good look at it and it is Mr. Winner. We made a left turn walking towards his quarters. 

"Mr. Winner mostly resides on the second floor in the west wing. He has everything he needs up here, a library, a study, a sitting room. His room is the farthest to the back past the library and the study, I'll lead you to it so that you don't get lost." He was giving me a tour? Did Quatre plan on having me over often enough that I would just walk to his room without having to go through Rashid? We neared his room and I got to peak in the study and the library, which was extensive; to be clear, my whole apartment could fit in that library five, maybe six times.

My feet started to sink in the plush, cream carpet as we trudged what seemed like a mile towards Mr. Winner's quarters. Upon nearing the room our auditory senses were met with the sounds of either a woman or a screeching cat, we couldn't tell which. The closer we got, the more audible the sounds were and Rashid and I could tell that it was definitely a woman. When we finally reached Mr. Winner's quarters, there was no doubt as to what was taking place behind the door. Rashid blushed as he looked at me and I had a rather stoic smirk, if that's even possible.

"OH….Oh… Quatre… Quatre! QUATRE!!!!!" It was definitely not a cat. The mingled sounds of the bed squeaking and the woman's cat-like screeching led my stoic smirk into a smile; I was completely amused, and I wanted to know who the woman was. Rashid knocked on the door lightly, stopping the squeaking but not the panting from the woman.

"Master Quatre?" The tall man said softly. This shocked me because I didn't know that huge men with gruff voices could talk with anything other than a manly yell. However, Rashid seemed like a child talking to Quatre in this rather delicate situation.

"What is it Rashid," I heard the man yell, obviously annoyed, "can't you hear that I'm busy with Ms. Peacecraft." So it was the Peacecraft doll that he was doing behind that door; something to tell Duo.

"Y-yes, but s-sir, Detective Barton is here for his appointment, sir." Rashid said. I could here the sigh of aggravation from Mr. Winner and I could hear the small voice of Peacecraft mumble something inarticulate.

"Give me ten minutes," he grumbled. Rashid turned and led me quickly away from the door; Relena's shrieks echoed behind us as we scampered down the hallway and back down the staircase.

****

Twenty minutes later, as I was sitting on the plush leather couch sipping some strange tasty alcoholic beverage, I see Mr. Winner dart happily down the stairs. The man is dressed all in a white, white pants, white button-down shirt with a smudge of blue on the collar, and a white sweater tied around his neck. He looks like he's either ready for sailing or for tennis.

"I'm sorry for being late, I just had to take care of some things. I trust that you won't share anything you may have seen or heard with anyone else." He says as he pours himself a glass of brandy and sits down across from me.

"Hey, what or who you do is of no concern of mine." I say.

"I must say, Detective, that when you contacted me a second time that I was completely astounded, I wasn't expecting that I gave you much to go on." He is a cordial bastard and I feel bad for bringing him into this mob business.

"Yes, well, I spoke with Ms. Chang on Sunday and she was a bit less than helpful." I say taking a sip of the amber liquid that was in my snifter. 

"Yes, she told me at the meeting later that day," my face lit up and he smiled after taking a sip from his own glass, "I take it she didn't tell you about the meeting."

"You would be right in your assumption." I say setting my glass down on the marble table.

"There was meeting of the three families on Sunday afternoon at the Savoy. She, of course, had to come in Wufei's place. There was some tension, but it was soon stored away. Mr. Yuy and I had some bad blood between us, but we have recently cleared it up. Roddy, on the other hand, seemed to be handling her husband's capital quite well in his untimely absence." Quatre said.

"So there was some tension at the meeting?"

"Yes, between myself and Mr. Yuy. It seems that some of his men mistreated one of my girls, there were many apologies. Mr. Yuy and I don't completely agree on certain things. I wish I didn't have to remind him that he met his wife at my club."

"Mr. Yuy's married?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes, you've met Jina, my bartender. They've been married for at least half a year now. Believe me when I say troubles do follow that marriage. Mr. Yuy is not exactly liked by the Cosa Nostra. I believe that it's because of Roddy that they haven't snuffed him out completely."

"How has Roddy saved him?" I ask. Mr. Winner seems to have diarrhea of the mouth after he's gotten some tail.

"If it weren't for the Triads protection to some of the Yakuza assets Yuy would have gone under financially a long time ago. Chang already owns 51% of Yuy's industry and stock."

"Then why does Merquise have such a problem with Yuy?" there was a long pause as Quatre refilled his snifter. He looked at me with serious eyes and took a sip of the amber liquid.

"Off the record," he said and I put down my pen and pad, "Zechs and Heero made a deal about two months before Chang's disappearance. Zechs wanted the Yakuza to pay protection for the lakefront property on down Shiprock. Yuy owns a few businesses down there along with Zechs and Wufei. Wufei was trying to make a deal with me to go in as partners so that I could move the Savoy to the Shiprock front. I didn't want to get involved with this because it sounded like a start of an all-out turf war. The Yakuza and Mob were already killing each other over bakeries and ship yards…" His voice faded off as if he'd said too much. I wasn't going to let him stop talking.

"Why ship yards?" I ask, picking back up on the last of his words.

"Both families push spank and whores around the ship yards. They wanted to use the Savoy more than they already do. I try to keep my business legit, what my girls do behind my back is beyond my control."

"Did Persephone work for anyone else but you?" I ask him. He takes a swallow.

"I saw her around Yuy a couple of times, a few months before she started humping Chang on the regular. I don't know what she did, but she had to be getting money from somewhere else, and she was getting popular with Yuy's boys. "

"How do the Triads play into this turf war?"

"The turf war is basically over. Somehow the Triads came out with most of Yuy's assets and that pissed off the Mob and Yuy. I think Chang was in over his head. All he wanted to do was set up places for gambling on the lake. He wanted me to move the Savoy to the lakefront and pay him protection for his girls. Yuy and Zechs wanted the same thing, but I didn't want to get involved so I just left the Savoy in the Industrial. Chang offered me a partnership and I considered it and the day I was supposed to sign him half of my deed to the club he disappeared."

"So the Cosa Nostra and the Yakuza are in it together, you think?" I ask leaning forward on the couch towards him.

"Hell no. The Yakuza is basically broke and they hate the Cosa Nostra, those two factions would never go in together; there is too much bad blood. As a matter of fact, at the meeting Roddy and I announced that I would be signing with her to complete the partnership that her husband previously intended. This is the argument that I mentioned earlier. Yuy wasn't happy about it at all, in fact he walked out. Merquise saw this as a dishonor."

"Wouldn't Yuy be pissed that the Triads hold most of his capital?"

"Yes, but he's protected, that's all that matters until he can open up some more whore houses or push some more spank. Which he can do when we open up on the Shiprock."

"Why with the Triads and not with any other family?"

"I trust them, especially Roddy. Besides, I don't do anything illegal in my club, the booze is legal, the gambling's legal. The Cosa Nostra and the Yakuza want to push drugs and women, I'm not into that." He smiled finishing his second glass of whiskey.

"Was Chang trying to go legit?"

"I don't know. He's always been an honorably businessman, though. I don't know about Zechs and Heero, both seem like men that would stab you in the back." He says setting his whiskey glass on the marble table close to mine. That's pretty much all I can tell you, everything else can get me killed." The man smiled and stood. He stretched languidly like a cat and offered me his hand. I shook it with strong enthusiasm.

"Thank you for your time," I say noticing that only an hour had passed by.

"No problem. I'm afraid that after tomorrow I won't be available to you any longer. I'm going out of town for a week or so after the signing. You know, next time that you come by, and I hope it's not for this mess, I will send a car." I saw the beautiful Relena Peacecraft start to descend the stairs in similar colors as Winner was dressed and she had a tennis skirt on; so they were going to play tennis. I saw him smile towards her and she smiled back coquettishly.

"Thank you Mr. Win…" The sounds of furious automatic gunshots rang through the windows of the house. It seemed like slow motion as glass flew like paper as the windows crashed and broke. The ricocheting of bullets chipped the paint and marble and the servants within the house screamed and dove to the ground. Quatre dove quickly to the floor, a bullet catching him in the shoulder. I was quick to follow him as I saw Rashid crawl towards his boss trying to shield the much smaller blonde from the spray of bullets. Then, it was over. Everyone that was splayed on the ground waited for what seemed like hours before they got up.

"Everyone okay!" Rashid screamed as he removed himself from Quatre's still form. The blonde underneath him looked up, and I could see that the bullet had only hit his shoulder. There was blood oozing out of the wound onto the perfect cream carpet, over his white sweater and white shirt, and marring his creamy skin and blonde hair. I sat up quickly, trying to help the man stop the bleeding on his shoulder. He sat still, in shock it seemed before the scream of a maid brought him back to consciousness. 

Relena. It was she who got the worst of the attack. She was coming down the stairs when the bullets started crashing through the windows and it looked as if everyone of them hit her. She was lying face down in a pool of her own blood, turning the creamy white carpet a deep crimson red. Her usually shiny blonde hair was covered and stained pink and the blood on her skin was too fresh to even be brown. Her previously white tennis skirt and blouse was covered in blood. Quatre crawled from his position between the two couches and over to her not caring about the glass that was crackling and no doubt sticking into his hands and knees. I didn't think that I'd ever see anything like this up close, but the blonde man cried and held her. He rocked her back and forth and kissed her left hand, which I finally notice held a tiny, gold band.


	6. Chapter 6

Duo threw the newspaper on my desk, startling me out of a frightful nightmare. I was dreaming about seeing Relena. The look of utter horror on Winner's face was beyond belief, much like I looked cradling my dead sister. There were so many parallels to Catherine's death and just seeing a bloody woman with bullet holes all through the body just made me have shitty dreams.

I wiped my eyes and gave Duo a look of either masked horror or un-amusement. It had been two days since Relena's death and the press had been all over it. He smirked at me callously and I turned my attention from the smug bastard to the front page of the daily newspaper. There was a picture of Quatre Winner, dressed in an impressive black suit walking solemnly into the Savoy with his large bodyguards next to him. The heading read: **SMITTEN CLUB OWNER TO WED TRAGICALLY FALLEN STARLETT.** I refused to read the papers; I knew exactly what happened. I figured it to be either Merquise or Yuy, but my odds were adding up for Merquise; Yuy had no money to even think about partnering up with Winner. Besides, the Yakuza were in too much trouble with the other two families as it was.

"It's a damn shame that someone so talented and beautiful ended up dead so young. I guess she was just hanging with the wrong crowd." Duo said sitting down in the chair in front of my desk.

"You don't know if she was talented…" I say, my voice trailing off and smirking at Duo. He simply smiled back at me.

"I saw her last flick, she wasn't half bad. I spent most of the time staring at her legs though," Duo's such a sick bastard. I really need to find him a girl before he goes crazy. I stand up, taking the paper that he so kindly threw on my desk and throw it in the trash.

"Why are you sleeping here, Trowa? You have an apartment." He's still sitting in front of my desk, watching me carefully as I walk back around my desk.

"I had some business to attend to." I say scowling at him. He walks over to the blinds and opens them. The hideous, garish sunlight shines through and I can feel a horrible headache coming on.

"I hope this business didn't involve Jack Daniels," he doesn't look too happy. Duo has his arms crossed over his broad chest and his left foot is tapping rhythmically against the floor.

"I'm not drunk, Duo. I was seriously working on this case," I show him my notes from my notepad.

"That's why I brought you that paper. Isn't it time for you to stop collecting statements and start collecting clues. If you wait too long, the cops are going to find Chang floating in the Shiprock Bay." It hit me suddenly. After all of last night's toiling over the critical clue in this case, I realized that we needed to go and investigate the Shiprock property. I needed to see for myself what this waterfront property held for all of the players involved in this case: the Yakuza, the Cosa Nostra, the Triads, and Quatre Winner.

"I can see the light bulb turn on." Duo says noticing my intense expression, "What are you thinking about?" He's leaning on my desk now; his palms flat on my desk his gaze intense. I give him a rare smile and stand up.

"I need to go to Shiprock Lake." I say walking around my desk towards the front door. He turns to look at me.

"What?" he says, giving me a look of complete bemusement.  I try to hide the look of utter satisfaction and smugness that I have with myself.

"Trowa, what the hell… where the hell are you going?" Duo says. I move quickly down the stairs, he's limping hurriedly behind me. I burst through the door and rapidly try and hail a cab. He finally catches up with me.

"I don't have any time to explain," I said. I cursed mutely because the cabs weren't stopping. Duo slung me around by my shoulders and shook me violently.

"Trowa, if this is for the case, let's just take the Cadillac." He says. Duo Maxwell, always the sensible bastard, I stop trying to hail the cab and turn to follow my friend into the Clover. 

I forgot how much the damned bar reminded me of Cathy. There's not one picture of her in the damned place, but the whole establishment just screams her name. Duo limps his way behind the cherry wood bar and I perch myself on a green-cloth covered barstool. He digs furiously through some things in the back of the bar, muttering curses as he bangs along the wooden cabinets that are out of my view. Some of the customers that are sitting further down the bar turn and look at me, then return to their conversation.

"Ted!" Duo screams and I hear something from the back of the bar a sound of crashing. Ted is a clumsy guy. He's a bit taller than me, but doesn't even come close to my build. I am tall and muscular, whereas Ted is tall and gangly. I suppose that comes from being a pimple-faced college kid that's working for Duo to pay his way through the university.

"Yes, boss?" he asked sheepishly. I don't blame him; Duo is rather intimidating.

"I want you to look after the bar until I get back." Duo says finally finding the keys to the Cadillac somewhere behind the bar and patting Ted on the back reassuringly. My braided comrade smiles at me genuinely and I can tell that he's ready to go. 

"Hey Ted," I say, offering him my most sympathetic smirk. 

"Hello, Mr. Barton," the poor kid. His voice is still cracking, it's like he's a puberty reject. Duo comes from behind the bar and leads me out the backdoor of the Clover towards where he parked the car.

Jesus, seeing that damned thing parked in that same space brings back some good memories. Back then, I didn't have to look for jobs, they just came to me. I was the best P.I. in the city and people were always having some type of problem. Cathy would work the phone and Duo would bartend, and after work all three of us would sit in the Clover and laugh and laugh.

I remember when Cathy got the Cadillac. It was long before she and Duo ever hooked up and she was working odd jobs to make ends meet. I remembered wondering where she'd gotten the money to pay for that beautiful car. She always laughed off my questions and told me she'd saved up for it. I couldn't help but believe her, she was always so meticulous; everything Cathy desired she got.

Duo opened the car door and we hopped in, strapping on our seatbelts silently as he starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot onto the street.

"Where to?" he asks, smiling at me.

"I really don't know. All I know is that there is some vacant property on Shiprock Lake." 

"I know where you're talking about. That's some pretty expensive shit. When Cathy and I were going to open the Clover we looked at that property. It was too rich for my blood back then, only the Lord knows how much money it costs now." Duo says

"Take me to it." I say and we ride in silence all the way there.

****

This property is pretty crappy to me, but Duo seems to know more about real estate than I do. To me this just looks like some washed up old gray buildings with windows that need patching. I don't see why the three families would be fighting over this land, but then again, I'm not a businessman.

"Yep, this is the place." Duo says getting out the car and taking a deep whiff of the fresh lakefront air. I look at him, then I look back at the buildings; I can't believe there is a gangster turf war over this.

"This is it?" I ask Duo, giving him a look of total bemusement.

"Yep, this is the property." He says, giving me that stupid grin.

"Duo, this is shit." He frowns at this.

"You obviously don't have an all-seeing eye, Trowa," he gives me the most condescending voice he can muster and a look to match.

"All-seeing what?… Huh?" I ask, not understanding a damn thing that he's talking about.

"You didn't make it past third grade, did you? You can't see the future in this property. It's by the lake, which makes it worth a bundle. Besides, this property is great for gambling boats, casinos, clubs, everything a mobster could want." Duo's eyes are lit a bright violet as I can tell that he's envisioning the future of the property. I shrug my shoulders after he's finished his little monologue and start walking towards the abandon building with a half-torn off sign that reads **OMNI DOG FOOD PLANT**. Duo, seeing that I'm walking towards the large doors, shakes himself from his revelry and limps after me. To my disappointment the door is locked, a large chain pulling together the two rusted handles and a large lock dangling from the chain. I glare at the offending lock, as if by sure will alone I can force it to unlock.

"Dammit!" I say quietly, pounding my fist into the door, "now I'll never find any clues." I lean up against the door, my back in perfect alignment with the hard metal and slide down into a crouching position, my knees pulled all the way up to my chest. Needless to say, I'm disappointed.

I see Duo fiddling around with his hair a little bit, then I hear the familiar click of a lock open. I look up to see my comrades smiling face and in his hand he's holding a small, silver lockpick. I don't think I've ever wanted to hug Duo more. 

"I knew you'd need a little help," he says offering me a large, tanned calloused hand and helping me to my feet. We unwrap the chain from around the handle and I push the door into utter darkness. I break out my flashlight and shine the beam around the whole room, looking for any potential danger. A small glint catches my eye and I walk towards the sparkle. Duo limps behind me, being the best sidekick. 

The closer we get to the sparkle the larger it gets and the more it seems to twinkle in the dim light of my flashlight. The sparkle turns out to be a silver earring, I pick it slowly and drop it in my pocket; Duo looks at me incredulously. Why would a woman's earring be in a dog food plant? I turn around and catch another glint from the flashlight; this time the flash is coming from the opposite sides of the factory and I walk over towards it; it's a matching earring.

"Do you think that they belong to a hooker, or something?" Duo asks, eyeing the small piece of jewelry. I take a look at the matching pair and shake my head vehemently.

"No, they're too classy for just any run-of-the-mill ho…" A noise from the darkness startles both of us and I drop the flashlight. Duo goes for cover as I scramble to pick up the flashlight. As soon as I have it back in my hand I shine the light in the vicinity of the sound.

"Hello?" I ask the darkness around us. There is a muffled answer. 

"Do you hear that?" Duo asks and I nod my head. We inch towards the area of the sound, the mumbling getting a bit noisier as we get closer. The only thing in our line of view is a trunk and I put my ear up against the top of it to see if the sounds are coming from there. I step back from it; the mumbling is definitely coming from the trunk.

"What do you want to do?" Duo asks.

"You open it and I'll shoot it if it's impulsive." I say drawing my gun from the holster around my waist. Duo looks at me skeptically.

"Duo, don't look at me like that, just do it." He snorts at my request and slowly starts to open the trunk, standing back from it so that I don't shoot him instead of the contents of the trunk. The creaking of the old wood obviously startles whatever is inside of it and it starts to make more noise. Duo finally opens lid of the trunk up to reveal a small-framed, dark-haired woman. She's bound and gagged and obviously frightened because her eyes are as big as a doe. Duo looks over to me.

"What do we do with her?" he asks. I shrug my shoulders and pick her up out of the trunk. I should have known that the little imp of a woman would have been scared of me; as soon as I get her small frame from the trunk she knees me in the groin and starts to hop away, her feet still tied. Duo, thinking fast and me still incapacitated, limps after her and tackles her to the ground. Finally, I'm able to speak without a falsetto and I trudge warily over to the dark-haired broad.

"What the hell was that for?" I ask, nursing my aching groin. Duo is presently holding her tightly pressed against him as I try and talk to her. She doesn't say much, all she's doing is mumbling through the gag around her mouth.

"MMMMMMMMmmmmm," are her words. Duo looks at me and shrugs.

"What?" I ask.

"MMMMM," is what she responds. We continue like this for the next few minutes until I removed the gag from her mouth.

"Who the hell are you?" are her first coherent words.

"I think I'm the one that should be asking that question."

"My name is Hilde. Hilde Schbeiker," So, this is the elusive Persephone. I knew that my instinct was telling me to come here today. 

"Good, I've been looking for you. I'm Trowa Barton, P.I." I flip my badge and show her some credentials. Duo helps her shake free of the ropes that bind her. She's only in her underwear and poor Duo is blushing as he helps her get free of the ties around her ankles. He hasn't been that close to a girl's thighs in years.

"Who's your friend?" she asks, looking down at Duo and smiling; I think my friend is about to faint.

"That's Duo Maxwell. Why are you tied up in here?" 

"Some guys came and took me and my guy off," I can see her eyes sadden as she sits down on one of the many crates that intersperse the inside of the building.

"What did these guys look like? And what did they do with Chang?"

"How do you know about my lover?" she's shocked and suddenly on her guard.

"His wife sent me out to look for him; she's the one who hired me."

"Oh, Roddy. I don't know what happened to Wufei, all I know is that some Asian guys came out of nowhere and dragged us off." A sigh.

"Were the guys Chinese or Japanese?" I ask.

"I don't know. I can't tell the difference. But I'm pretty sure that they were Japanese. Wufei is one of the most influential and feared Chinese men in this town." She smiles resolutely. She's thinking about Chang, I can tell by her wistful facial expression.

"Well, I have to get you back to your boss." I say grabbing her arm and leading her towards the exit doors. She struggles out of my grasps and runs back towards the trunk.

"I'd rather die than go back to that hell-hole. I don't want to be a lounge singer anymore." Her eyes are wide with fright, but I have no time for this shit.

"That's not my problem. Nor is it my choice to not take you back to Quatre. He's pretty peeved with you." I say walking towards her slowly. She backs away an inch for every step I take.

"Please, Mr. Barton, don't take me back to the Savoy. That's why I ran away with Wufei, to get away from that damned place. I'm so sick of being a lounge singer; I only took the job so that I could get through the university. That was almost four years ago; I've made a career out of something that I hate. Please don't take me back there; I'll do anything." She's down on her knees begging and pleading with me. My heart is starting to soften but my job is not to help her my job is to find Chang. So I walk towards her and start to grab her up from the floor, but Duo is there first.

"Trowa, I'll take care of her and Winner can come through me if he wants her." Has Duo lost his damned mind?

"Have you lost your damn mind?" I'm looking at Duo like he's crazy as he holds the little imp closer to him. I think he's finally found himself a girl.

"No. I just feel sorry for her. She's in over her head. Besides, I have a place for her to stay until the heat is off of her. She'll be safe." My eyes narrow at my braided comrade as I think about that charity girl staying where my sweet sister used to stay. In any case, when Duo has made up his mind there is no use arguing. I shrug my shoulders, give him a look of utter disapproval and walk towards the doors of the factory. Well, let's look at it this way; at least I've find one piece of the fucked up puzzle.


	7. Chapter 7

How elegant is this? I'm crashing a funeral- not just any funeral the Peacecraft funeral. The ambiance is amazing; someone really went all out for the beautiful starlet. I can see the mounds and mounds of white lilies being places on her even whiter coffin, and I can almost see the somber look of Quatre Raberba Winner as he places the last lily on the coffin. It's close to raining today; I can smell it coming in the air. The clouds are gray and it's been threatening rain all day long; this is a perfect day for a funeral. 

The feel is rather somber today. I fight my way through the sneaky reporters and their bastard photographers that just want to get a shot of the now deceased starlet. I feel for the rich and famous; I really do. The usual suspects are lined up perfectly, though I don't have a fucking inkling as to who the hell could be responsible for Wufei Chang's untimely disappearance. I see Yuy, Merquise, Winner, and Roddy surrounding the grave sight, their respective entourages surrounding them. Everyone is looking rather somber, fake or otherwise, except me. Everyone is dressed in the best black clothes that they could find in their closets, except for me. I'm dressed in a washed out brown suit and an even more washed out trench coat. I scan the expanse of the funeral and see the usual suspects- Yuy, Merquise, Winner. I suppose now that Winner is definitely not a suspect in this case, considering that I'm standing at his fiancé's funeral. Truthfully, I don't have a clue as to who could be responsible for the untimely kidnapping of Wufei Chang. I went over and over this case in my head for the past three days and I don't have a fucking inkling as to what is going on. In a situation like this the one thing I can do is go over the facts and relationships; I down at my notes taken last night and this case still doesn't make any sense to me.

Fact #1: Wufei Chang, the Triad mob boss is missing. He's been missing for over a month now.

Fact #2: Wufei Chang has a mistress named Hilde Schbeiker (recently recovered).

Fact #3: Hilde Schbeiker, alias Persephone, works for Quatre Raberba Winner in his nightclub the Savoy. Quatre slept with Roddy Chang.

Fact #4: The Savoy is a goldmine and haven for criminal activity. Criminals that roost there (three families) the Triads (Chang), the Yakuza (Yuy), and the Cosa Nostra (Merquise).

Fact #5: Turf war between Yakuza and Cosa Nostra 6 months earlier.

Fact #6: Shiprock Lake holds cherry land.

Fact #7: The day that Chang and Winner were going to sign for the property Chang was kidnapped.

Fact #8: Triads own 51% of the Yakuza capital.

Fact #9: Heero Yuy is pissed because of losing his assets.

Fact #10: Quatre Winner's house got shot up three days after a meeting which could have caused more anger to rise between the three families.

Which brings me to what I'm doing now the funeral of Relena Peacecraft. I can't help but be reminded of Cathy's funeral. Though my sister's final rest wasn't as lavish and full as Ms. Peacecraft's it was still as beautiful- I made sure of that. I feel a little sprinkle on my hand and realize that it's starting to rain like I predicted earlier. With a flutter, umbrellas around the gravesite pop up.  I walk closer, avoiding the annoying questions from the reporters. They're lowering the beautiful Ms. Peacecraft into the ground as I near and I see sullen faces everywhere. I feel for Mr. Winner. His life with her was just starting and some bastard took it away so suddenly. I guess I feel for any man that has ever lost a woman that was dear to him. I don't think I've been to a funeral since I went to my sisters.

People start to disperse from the gravesite and I see handshakes and small, phony smiles all around the site. I see Mequise stand; he has to be the most effete man that I've ever seen. He has platinum blonde hair flowing down his back and he's holding an umbrella over his small-framed wife and their newborn son. I see him shake hands with Winner and wonder why they're conversing so eagerly and calmly. The closer I get to the gravesite, the more people I notice and they notice me in return.

Heero Yuy is standing with his wife, both of them surrounded by and entourage of Japanese men. These men are, no doubt, armed to the tooth and ready to pounce on anyone that dare challenge Mr. Yuy. I see Zechs and Quatre walk over to the woman that I'm looking for, Roddy Chang. She's wearing dark sunglasses to match her dark black suit. I now notice that everyone is wearing a different colored rose in their lapel to signify which family they belong to. The Cosa Nostra has a white rose, the Yakuza a yellow rose, and the Triads the red rose. Roddy, Quatre, Zechs and Noin exchange hugs and small kisses to the cheek. I notice that Roddy and Quatre linger a little too long in the embrace, but then I notice that Mr. Winner is crying when she releases him. I suppose he and Roddy really are just friends now. I watch as Yuy and his wife, Jina, walk towards Zechs and his family to offer their condolences. Zech's facial expression immediately changes. I get closer.

"I am extremely sorry about your loss, Quatre," I hear Jina say. Winner's eyes narrow and I see a flicker of anger rise in them.

"Why did you even show your face here? I know what you did. Jina, you and your husband are never allowed in the Savoy again." I don't think I've ever heard him sound so serious. Then again, I only know the side that he shows me.

"Winner, you couldn't possibly think…" finally I hear the silent Japanese speak.

"You'll pay for what you did, Yuy." Winner whispers and walks away towards the limo that is waiting for him. He is accompanied by Zechs and Lucrezcia who counter his threat with evil glares. Roddy follows them to the limo and I see one more hug exchanged between she and Quatre. We catch eyes and she hurriedly walks the opposite way of me. I quickly catch up with her and grab her by the arm.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

"Why are you running from me?" I counterask.

"I asked you first."

"I came here to pay my respects. I was there the day that Relena was killed."

"Oh, well, then you should know that the funeral was by invitation only."

"Ah. Maybe you can help me with something," I say pushing her behind a sarcophagus so that no one can see us. Her back is pressed into the cold metal and I'm leaning my hips against hers so that she doesn't get away.

"I'm a married woman." She grounds out as she struggles to get away from me.

"That's never stopped you before," I say playfully back. She chuckles and stops struggling and I pull away from her.

"What do you want?"

"What was that exchange between Winner and Mequise all about?"

"Why don't you go ask them? I have no idea. I just came to pay my respects."

"I think you're lying."

"You can think whatever you want. How about you get to work on the case that I'm paying you for. The last time I checked my husband was still missing." She pushes me off of her and starts to walk away.

"We found his mistress in a trunk at Shiprock property."  This stops her.

"What property was it?"

"The Omni Dog Food Company."

"Heero Yuy, that bastard. I knew it was him all along." She says these words more to herself than she does to me. I pull her back towards me against the sarcophagus.

"That's what I came to talk to you about. All the evidence adds up to him, but I seriously have a hunch that's it's not him."

"What? Even the police think it's him. They're swarming his home to find evidence in the murder of Peacecraft. That's why Quatre was so unkind to him today, everyone knows it has to be the Yakuza." 

"I just don't think it's him. Personally I think it's Merquise or some other outside source that's terrorizing your glamorous underworld." I don't think I've ever seen her so upset. She's looking at me with such incredulity and anger that I take a step back from her. She walks closer to me and grabs jacket lapels and pulls me down so that we're face to face.

"Relena Peacecraft was Zechs Mequise's sister. Would you kill your own sister, Barton?" She pushes me away from her and quickly walks away towards her waiting limo. I'm completely stunned. I'm so stunned, in fact, that I watch her walk all the way to he limo and watch as it disappears into thin air around the twists and turns of the graveyard. I pull out my pad and paper and right down fact #11: Relena Peacecraft was Zechs Mequise's sister and Quatre Winner's fiancé. This leaves me with no other choice, I have to go question the Yakuza.

****

I arrive at the home Heero Yuy the next day at noon. It's not exactly what I would have expected from the head of the Yakuza mob family. The home is rather modest compared to the other homes that I've visited over the past three weeks. I suppose everything is modest after you've visited the Winner estate. Now keep in mind that by modest I mean modest for a mob boss. In the case of Heero Yuy, the poorest and worse off of the three families, I would have to say that he's not living too badly. 

It's a three story brown wooden house that has the ambience of a small pagoda. In the front there is a small pond full of koi, much like the Chang residents. There is a black Rolls Royce sitting out front in the courtyard and the hedges are well manicured. I notice that there aren't any bodyguards, there are no attack dogs, there is nothing keeping me from opening this wooden gate to the garden. I open it and walk straight up to the round door, ringing the doorbell. I am greeted by Jina, the sexy bartender from Quatre's bar. At first I wonder why the hell she's here then I remember that she's Heero's wife of six months. She doesn't look too happy to see me, but she lets me in all the same.

"Come in, sit down, make yourself at home. I was just berating my husband for being such a dumbass." She says picking up her already lit and smoked cigarette from a delicate ashtray. I follow her into the living room and I can see that Heero Yuy, the usually stern-faced Yakuza mob boss is sitting on the couch with a pained expression on his face. He looks like he's just got into an argument with his wife; I feel kind of bad for intruding.

"So, what is it that you wanted to discuss?" he asks, standing to shake my hand.

"I don't think we've been formally introduced, I'm…"

"I know who you are. Answer the question." He's a tough one.

"Stop being such a dick Heero, he's here to help us." she said after taking a long drag from the cigarette.

"Actually I'm here to help Mrs. Chang."

"Oh, that bitch sent you!!!" Jina is standing from her seat, anger seething behind her eyes. I sense some tension between Jina and Roddy.

"You don't like her?" I ask, pulling out my pen and pad.

"It's not that I don't like her, it's that I hate her. She's a lying manipulative little bitch. She thinks that if she can shake her huge ass and tits in a man's face that he'll do anything for her. The only problem is that she's right; men are that stupid!!!" She said throwing her arms over her head in anger.

"Calm down, Jina, Roddy is not that bad." Heero says quietly. She looks at him with stern eyes and hits him on the shoulder. Hard.

"I never want to hear her name and my name in the same sentence again coming from your mouth, is that clear. You're so naïve Heero, don't you see? She played you for a fool a complete fool and you still stand up for her." She fell to the sofa with a defeated sigh.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, completely amused by interrupting a couple argument.

"Mr. Barton, you will have to excuse my wife, she's a bit upset with me. You see, all of our finances have been going to pay protection to the Triads so that the Cosa Nostra won't completely shut down Yakuza trade. Basically, the Changs own 51% of our capital." I already knew this, but I wanted to know more, so I pretend that I don't know as much as I really know. In short, I play dumb.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Really, that bitch came over here and basically seduced my husband into giving Chang money. Those Triads are sneaky little bastards, and Roddy is the fucking ringleader." Jina ranted.

"The Triads are helping us, protecting our business interest, yet they too are taking us over. We're almost broke because the police have ceased so many of our assets. They're coming after us, no one wanted to see Relena die. I don't know who did it, but I know we're being framed." Heero Yuy didn't seem to be one of those types of people that would hurt anyone. He seemed like the type of guy that would do a fair deal and if you crossed him then he'd retaliate.  I looked into his baby blues and they looked trusting enough.

"What about Peacecraft?" he winced; this was obviously a sensitive subject.

"There is no proof that we had anything to do with that. Everything is just specula…" the doorbell rang, interrupting Mr. Yuy's attempt at explaining himself. His wife excused herself demurely from the sofa arm and went to go answer the door.

There was scuffle and some shouting, and then the police rushed in full force, guns cocked. They surround Yuy and I as the ringleader threw Yuy on the sofa face down and read him his rights.

"What is this for?" Yuy asked, his voice muffled from the sofa being pushed into it.

"You are being arrested for the conspiratory murder of Chang Wufei," those words sparked my interest. They pulled Yuy up from the sofa and led him out. Jina followed, grabbing the keys to her car and tailing the police car with her husband quickly. I grabbed an officer that was casing the house for clues and stopped him.

"He's wanted for the murder of Chang Wufei?" I asked, confused, bewildered. How was it possible?

"Yeah, haven't you heard? Chang's body was found floating in the harbor late this morning." The words sounded ridiculous to my ears. I'd failed this case, I'd failed my client, and I'd failed myself.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up with one hell of a hangover. I ended up spending the rest of the night in my office, completely dejected from this failure. I'd never failed a case before. Never. I was just that good. I guess there's a first time for everything. I should have wired Roddy yesterday to apologize for her husband's death. He's been missing for so long that I figured that he'd been dead. But killed by a Yakuza friend was never the way I thought this would turn out. This underworld is so dirty and I'm almost glad that this case came to an abrupt end.

I stand up from my shitty desk in my equally shitty office and smell myself; rancid. I need to head home or either down to Duo's or something. I need to feel as if I'm worth something before I go crazy with failure reeling in my head. Finally standing without feeling the whole world spin, I make my way down to the Clover, the steps seeming like I'm scaling down Mount Everest.

Finally I reach the Clover and Duo's standing at the door, sweeping again. I swear, he keeps the floors to this bar cleaner than he does his own flat.

"How did you manage to fuck up this case, Tro?" were the first words out of his mouth. The news must have reached the papers. Of course they've reached the papers, the media is worst than any hound dog.

"I don't know, Duo, I figured he was dead. Although this doesn't sit right with me somehow," I trudge into the Clover and take my usual bar stool. Duo follows me in. I notice a dewy-eyed, raven-haired girl working behind the bar and I realize that it's Hilde. I sigh and give him the worst scowl in the world. He simply rolled his eyes and continued to talk, ignoring my scowl.

"What do you mean, this case doesn't sit right with you?"

"I don't think Yuy had anything to do with Chang's disappearance or death. I think he's being set up." In all my years of being Duo's friend, I don't think I've ever seen a look come to his face like this. His violet eyes are showing what looks to be bemusement, while his mouth is twisted into a scowl.

"Trowa, I think you need to lay off the brew," he says, patting me on the back with friendly fervor.  I shrug him off with a growl of disdain.

"Don't patronize me, Duo, I'm serious,"

"I know you're serious, that's what I'm afraid of. Seriously, Trowa, you need to stop chasing a fantasy case and start facing the facts. Yuy did it. He has a motive, he has the means, and more importantly his paws are all over this. Yuy killed the Peacecraft chic and Yuy had Chang killed, it only makes sense. Now I suggest that you go get some sleep, because you have a funeral to attend later today." Duo accentuated his words with a whipping polish to the brass of his bar. I'd almost forgotten that the funeral was this afternoon. I need to get moving, I only have a few hours. I stand defiantly from the barstool and look Duo directly in the eye.

"Okay, the facts may be pointing to Yuy, but I assure you that it wasn't him. Now if you'd excuse me, I have a funeral to attend."

****

Why do all mob funerals look exactly the same? This looks exactly like the Peacecraft sendoff, only this time the Triads are all lined up in front of the casket. I'm not crashing this funeral; I was invited by Roddy herself.  Unlike the Peacecraft engagement, the Chang funeral has perfect weather. The sun is shining, and though it's winter, some ravens are actually making that horrible squawking noise.  I move closer to the funeral, arriving a bit late, not wanting to be a large part. It's Roddy's day today, I know that the loss of her husband, though he was a gruff bastard, is hard for her. I finally see her; she's surrounded by a group of large, burly men. Quatre is holding her hand as they lower the casket into the grave. She steps forward and throws a single, crimson rose over the casket. I see her adjust her hat and a single tear fall from her eye. 

"I'm sorry Roddy," I say to myself. And as if she hears me, our eyes meet over the crowd. I walk closer as the crowd starts to disperse. Quatre hugs her, kisses her on the cheek, and whispers some words that seem to comfort her into her ear. He leaves, only nodding cordially in my direction. She is the last person left at the grave and I advance ever so slowly.

"You don't have to walk slowly, I am not angry with you, Trowa," her voice sounds as normal as it could under these circumstances. I look up at her and cannot see her face. She is wearing dark glasses and a large black hat. I know this is covering her sadness. I walk faster, an apology on my lips, but she doesn't want to hear it. She raises her hand to stop me in mid-apology.

"You did the best that you could. I will send a car for you to come collect your money."

"Money? But I didn't…"

"I know. But it just seems right. You figured out who it was that was doing all of these dishonest things and I thank you. I will send a car around seven tonight if that's alright," she walks off before I can even begin to say anything. I realize that I am standing with my mouth gaping open when a small raindrop falls in it. I suppose no funeral can have perfect weather.

****

At exactly seven that night there was a knock on my door. I assumed that it was going to be Lee, the Chang's usual skittish driver. However, it was a completely different fellow. This man was taller, burlier, and as cool as a fan. He greeted me and showed me to the waiting, familiar Triad limo. Again on the ride there my thoughts turned to how beautiful Roddy is. Other than that, I wonder what she's going to do now that her husband is dead. I suppose that she and Quatre can complete their relationship that they'd started those many years ago. Now they can do so without fear of repercussions going Quatre's way. I suppose that they're a good couple: the businessman and the gangster's widow. It seems to work out in a strange sort of way. Winner is used to being in with these sort of scum anyway.  Still, I'm worried about her. I wonder if she'll let me take care of her. Though Roddy doesn't seem like the woman that needs to be taken care of. She does need a bit of love though. She's a bit too hard to be as damn classy as she is, but who am I to judge. I judge all women by the standards of my sister. I really do need to settle down with a nice broad. Hell, even Duo's got himself someone, though she may not be someone that I approve of. Hilde ain't that bad. She's a bit rough around the edges, but ain't everyone.

The car comes to a smooth stop; one very different from the edgy driving of Lee. I talk to this guy on my way up to the door and he tells me that his name is Chu. He seems to be nice. At least Roddy took my advice and got herself a new driver. I was starting to worry for her safety with Lee behind the wheel. We enter the Triad mansion and I am escorted through the lofty bamboo of the front courtyard and into the familiar living room. Chu informs me that Roddy will be down soon. The nice maid brings me a cup of ginger tea and I sip until I hear petal-soft footsteps on the carpeted stair. She's radiant as she makes her way down the stairs. Her raven hair is flowing about her shoulders in silken waves. Her eyes, though swollen a bit from earlier weeping, look almost dewy and innocent. And she's wearing a simple red nightgown, complete with silk robe. I notice that she's carrying a checkbook with her and I look away.

"Here is your money, the exact amount that we agreed on, twenty-two and a half large in American dollars. That is since I've already paid you the seventy-five hundred up front," a smile lights her face and I realize that I've never seen her smile like this.  Quickly, I take the check and start for the door so as not to give in to temptation. She shakes her head up and down and starts back up the stair. I can't take it; if I'm going to hell it's going to be with this woman.

"Roddy," my voice sounds unfamiliar to me, so meek and gentle, "how's about I take you out on the town tonight. I know this sounds indecent since your husband was just killed, but I would really like to see you smile. Besides, I just got finished with this job that I screwed up royally and I have some money to burn. Who better to burn it with?" That's got to be the most honest I've ever been when asking a woman out with me. She turns and examines the situation. I can see the gears churning in her head. I can almost feel her response as it drips from her tongue.

"Why Mr. Barton, are you asking me out on a date?" she steps down a single step, slowly making her way towards me. I let out a sigh of breath, nervous at her question.

"Well… I know it sounds wrong… I shouldn't have said anything…I'm sorry I even ask…" she kissed me. I thought she was going to slap me, but her lips met mine in the best kiss that I've ever had. It's lustful and passionate and I can barely think.

"I've been wanting to do that ever since I laid eyes on you," her voice is husky and her hair a bit mussed from my persistent hands roaming through it. It's as silky as I always thought it would be. I'm shocked; she's wanted me as much as I've wanted her.

"Well… I…"

"You're speechless, how cute. Do you want to come upstairs?" she grabs my hand and slowly leads me up the stairs to her bedroom. I'm shocked, but not stupid. As soon as we're out of the view of the servants I pin her to the wall and ravish her there. Kisses everywhere. Tongues entwined, hands everywhere, groping, yearning, caressing, my lips everywhere, her hands on me, our bodies uniting in a hellish act but neither one of us gives a damn. I am in heaven, she is in heaven in this moment, and we're together, making love in heaven.

****

I'm tickling her neck, the only part not covered by the red silk sheets. How did I know that her room would be completely crimson? Everything else that is Triad is red. She giggles slightly and turns over, kissing me childishly. I notice something that I'd never seen, not even in our earlier session of lovemaking. 

"You have a tattoo?" I ask, noticing the small, black yin yang being enveloped by the dragon on the small of her back. I notice her shrug away from me, so much so that she turns around completely, hiding the tattoo from my sight.

"All the Triad family members and some of those higher in the family have this tattoo. It's a symbol of unity, balance, and good fortune. With Wufei's death there will be life to some other Triad family, with our sects misfortune someone else will be fortunate and will share that fortune. Unity, balance, good fortune, I never believed that shit. Neither did Wufei, he always believed that you make your own fortune." I wrap my arms tighter around her, holding her close to me trying to make her warm.

"So, does Lee have that tattoo?" I ask, trying to make a joke. It works, she laughs cordially and turns in my arm.

"Of course not, he's just the driver."

"Where is Lee?" I ask, haphazardly, "I was beginning to get used to his edgy driving."

"He's visiting some family in China. I took your advice and gave him a break." She yawns and I can tell that she's close to sleeping. I've never felt happier, never more content that I have this day. 

"I want to stay like this for a while, Roddy, if you don't mind," I say into her silky hair. I inhale the fragrance of jasmine and rose and close my eyes. She's already asleep so she didn't hear a word that I said. It's all right, I'll tell her in the morning. Everything seems to be right in the world, I suppose I did do my job. Yuy is in jail, and though Wufei and Peacecraft didn't make it out of this alive, I helped capture the culprit. I suppose I can resign myself to  believing that Yuy did it.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Almost finished. I hope everyone enjoyed this little jaunt back to the "Dirty Thirties." Thanks to all who reviewed. My Muse Jinakel, thank you most of all. This is dedicated to all those Trowa fans out there; I know we're few and far between and sometimes it's just hard to find some good Trowa fiction. L-3 forever!!!

This is not my room. This is not my bed. I haven't a clue where I am. The only thing that I know is that I smell jasmine. I haven't opened my eyes yet; maybe if I do that I'll remember. My room smells like shit and dead fish. This room smells heavenly. It's warm and inviting and reminds me of my sister. My eyes open, scarlet reds assault it; another color associated with my sister. I'm in Roddy's bedroom I instantly remember, but she's not here. The only thing is a white rose laid upon a crimson pillow and a small note attached to it. I pick it up and read it.

_Dearest Trowa,_

_   Thank you for last night; it was wonderful and special, and something that I will never forget. I had some business to attend to before the signing with Quatre this afternoon. Whenever you are ready, Chu will take you back to your apartment. I hope to see you later if I'm not too busy. I will wire you if I can make it, if not, maybe tomorrow._

_Roddy_

She has impeccable handwriting.

Could it be that I was falling for her the whole time that I was working this case? I've never felt this way before. I jump from the bed; naked as the day I was born and make my way towards the toilet. I shower, don't bother shaving and dress quickly. I run down the stairs and Chu is sitting and waiting for me. He's reading a paper and the maid offers me some toast with a strange tasting marmalade and some ginger tea for breakfast. Chu waits, glances over once in a while from his paper, then turns his attention back to the paper. I finish quickly and he, just as quickly, goes and readies the car. I've never felt more like royalty than at this moment. 

When I walk out to the car, I can tell that Chu is not happy with something. He opens the back door for me and before I'm actually in the car, closes it swiftly. His driving is jerky on the way back to my apartment. Finally we make it back, and I slightly start to believe that Roddy just has bad taste in drivers, until he pulls me aside after opening my door. His grip is firm, something that can be mistaken for nothing other than business.

"Don't get involved with her so quickly after her husband's death. It's not honorable." I look Chu in his coal black eyes, his, no doubt shoulder-length, hair pulled back in a ponytail under his driver's cap. Resolutely, he looked like no other formidable Asian, other than the confident manner in which he carried himself. Yes, he was unlike Lee, who was a skittish, moronic, waif of a man in manners. But in appearance, the two men were almost identical. Who did he think he was, grabbing me like this? I had the mind to soc him in the eye. Instead of taking to violence, I glare down at the hand on my shoulder and look back at his eyes. He has a smirk on his face, making his high cheekbones and slanted eyes look almost superiorly evil, but those eyes are as cold and as mean as they are black. We stand like this for what seems like minutes, until I swallow my anger in a huff.

"Whatever you say, Chu," I shrug him off and practically stuff my hands into my pockets to avoid punching the guy. He watches me until I'm at my apartment complex door and then I see him get into the car and start it, driving off as soon as I'm opening the door and stepping into the safety of the building. Who the hell did he think he is?

I walk down the hall and notice that my door is open. Duo must be here. Without surprise I walk into the room and I see him sitting on my couch with Hilde in the kitchen making something to eat. I shouldn't have ever given him my extra key.

"The walk of shame? Where have you been all night, buddy?" a smile is on his face. I look over at the clock; it's about two in the afternoon, I must have slept for a long time over at Roddy's. I fall into the seat next to Duo and sigh.

"Haven't seen you since before the funeral, what happened? I came over but you weren't here. You didn't go out and get plastered with some dame, did you?"

"No, Duo, it's nothing like that," I'm distracted by Hilde's humming from the kitchen. I turn to Duo and he shrugs.

"What's she doing?"

"Making something out of the small amount of food in the refrigerator and the meat that I picked up from the butcher this morning. It's a surprise. Please, continue."

"Well, I went to the funeral and I see Roddy. She says that she's going to pay me the full because I was such a nice guy. Sends over her new, strange, driver to take me to her place. She pays me and I end up, you know… the rest is, as they say, history," Duo looks at me with wide-eyed shock.

"How is it that you always end up sleeping with every female client that you have?"

"Women dig me."

"You're just a horny, P.I." Duo laughs and turns his attention to Hilde who has entered the room with two plates of food.

"So, who is this new driver?" she asks as she hands me a plate of food. I look down at it; it looks edible and start to dig in. Surprisingly, it's pretty good.

"Name's Chu, nothing special. He's a bit overprotective of Roddy though. He pulled me aside before I got in here and said that I shouldn't be getting involve with her so soon after her husband's death."

"It's so sad that he's dead. Wuffie was such a swell fellow. What happened to Lee?"

"He went to China to visit some family."At this point I can tell that Duo is neither concerned nor caring about the conversation between Hilde and I. He's actually enjoying the food that she cooked.

"Lee doesn't have any family in China. He was the last one of his family actually," she says and takes another bite of food, this time from Duo's plate.

"That's strange, well, maybe he just got some time off and that's what he told Roddy. Who knows?"

"So, about Chu?" she bade me continue.

"Why are you so interested in this Chu fellow; you guy is sitting right here," I make it known.

"It's because I don't quite remember a Chu and I want you to jog my memory. Even when Lee did have days off he was always replace by Albert, so I'm trying to remember Chu. So go on." That's a good enough answer for me.

"Well, he has long hair…"

"That's not possible," she gets up from her seat on the chair and takes our plates into the kitchen. I stare at her back strangely.

"It most certainly is possible, the guy just dropped me off; I'm sure I know what his hair looked like?" I scream into the kitchen.

"Well, only the heads of the different Triad syndicates are allowed to have long hair," she's muffled but I can understand every word. I noticed that; everyone that surrounded Roddy had neatly cut hair, that's why Chu's ponytail caught my attention. I reach into my pocket and pull out my note slowly. I flip it open to the page of Roddy's description; sure enough long hair is one of the factors. I swallow hard. Hilde comes walking back into the room looking at me strangely.

"Trowa, you look like you've seen a gho…" her voice fades off and I notice that her eyes have caught by something. It's the single picture that I have of Cathy on top of the radio. It's the one that Duo took the day we opened the agency. She and I are armed linked and smiling, our hands outstretched to show the sign. We really aren't looking at the sign, well I'm not anyway; I'm looking at her.

"I know that dame," her voice is as low as a whisper as she walks towards the picture. She picks it up and stares at it strangely then looks at me and Trowa.

"Who is she, Trowa, one of your old dames?" she asks. Of course, I'm completely offended and Duo can tell that I'm about to smack Hilde. Instead of me answering her, Duo grabs the picture from her hand and looks it over.

"That's Catherine, Trowa's sister and my wife. She was killed."

"I know her," Hilde exclaims, her squealing accent almost too shrill for me to bear. She sat down next to Duo, her head in her hands deep in thought. Finally she looked up at both of us with her big blue eyes.

"She used to come to the Savoy all the time. Wufei was always giving her things- money, expensive clothes; he even gave her a car once. She didn't like him giving her all that stuff, but he wanted her, I don't know why. Pretty soon Chang gave up on her, but he lavished affections on her that he never did on any other woman, not even me, and especially not his wife." Hilde looked serious, but I couldn't accept it.

"Cathy would have told me about Chang, wouldn't she?" I looked at Duo with heavy eyes.

"I always wondered how she got that damned car. Well, what's done is done. Chang is dead, they pulled him out of the harbor completely naked and with a destroyed face. They did a once over on him that I wouldn't believe."

"Yeah, it was a closed casket," Hilde disappeared then repapered with the paper. 

"Here, Trowa, we kept it for you; your name is mentioned a couple of times. Duo said that you keep newspaper clippings of your personal cases." She handed me the paper and I stared intently at the front page. There was a grotesue picture of a net pulling the mangle and disfigured body of Chang from the harbor. Yet, there was something wrong. The man was naked, all angles of him able to be scene, except for his most private of parts and there was something missing.

_It's a symbol of unity, balance, and good fortune._

Her voice rang clear in my head, Roddy's silky smooth voice explaining the reasons behind the marking on the small of her back.

_All the Triad family members have this tattoo._

But in this picture, this dead body of Chang had no identifying marks. Hell, the man didn't even have long hair. The only thing that went along with Chang's description was that the man was Chinese. I started to shake, a gross reality hitting me with as much force as a freight train. I'd been had.

"Are you okay, Trowa?" Duo asked, noticing my furrowed brow. I looked over to him then to Hilde.

"Tell me everything you know about Roddy Chang," I said, settling Hilde into a comfortable seat.

"Why?" Duo asked.

"I've been had, everyone has."


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Hi people, this is the last and final chapter for this story. Ah, do you smell that, that is the scent of completion. Well, I wrote some alternate endings and if you want to read them just e-mail me.  Hope you enjoy, I put my heart and soul into this ending.

Chapter 10

I couldn't believe it I'd been had. This tricky, beautiful, wonderful, loving dame had kicked my ass to the fullest. She and Chang were a good pair; they could lie, steal and cheat the whole world out of their money. I was almost laughing my head off…almost.

"What are we doing here?" Hilde asked from the back of the Cadillac. I'd taken the liberty of showing up at the Shiprock Lake property in order to figure out what was going on. I figured I'd see Roddy here as well, considering that she was tricking Quatre into signing his deed away. We pulled up slowly to the property, slickly turning off the lights and stopping the car with a smooth, soundless halt. I hopped out of the car and saw that there were three cars here; Winner's white Bentley, Roddy's black Rolls Royce, and an indistinguishable car.

"They're here, both of you wait in the car." I jumped out of the car, pistol drawn and sneaked up towards the warehouse building. I could faintly here sounds of people talking inside of the building and I crept silently trying to find a way to listen better. Finally I see a stack of crates under a window and climb up it to get a better listen and look. It looked like Roddy was greeting Quatre with a friendly hug; part of me tinges with jealousy.

"I'm glad that you could make it Quatre, I was worried that the earlier events would have stopped you for some reason," I hear Roddy say cordially.

"Oh, I'm fine, I was actually wondering how you were feeling."

"Always the sweet man, aren't you? Well, we all know that my husband was a lying, cheating, scandalous prick, yet I miss some parts of him. But I'm sure you could help me with that," a smile is on her face as she walks up to Quatre and grabs the seat of his pants and squeezes. Slut! I swear women are going to be the end of me. Especially this woman. Like any other man would do, he surrenders to her stroking hand and becomes as limp (in some places) as a noodle.

"I can't believe I picked Relena over you," I can't believe he picked Relena over her. Roddy is probably the best lay I've found in a long time. Well, enough daydreaming, I need to get back to business. I watch as the happy couple breaks away and Roddy smoothly slides the partnership deed in front of him. That poor sap, she and Chang are gonna take him for everything he's worth. Quatre, in a dumfounded sex stupor signs the deed and Roddy quickly takes it away and stuffs it in a sacred place, her bra.

"Thank you, Mr. Winner, it has been a pleasure doing business with you. Now, I must be off, business and the like."

"Will you send for me later?" That poor, horny bastard, she's given you an out, run.

"No, she won't!" a voice from the shadows creeps up. Winner stares in the direction of the darkness but sees nothing. I creep up higher on the blocks and see absolutely nothing.

"You have to be so damned dramatic don't you," Roddy says with a huff of annoyance. The voice steps from the shadow and I see now that it's Wufei pointing a gun at Quatre. I fall ungracefully from my place on the stack of crates and distract them but for only a minute. Before I know it, a rather angered looking Wufei Chang drags me into the warehouse at gunpoint.

"I told you to wait until I called, didn't I Trowa?" Roddy asked, rather amused.

"Fuck you, let me go," I'm immediately pistol-whipped by Roddy.

"You're a fucking nuisance, but you're so cute though" She says and walks towards me, kissing me full on the lips, allowing me a moment's please as my hands go around her waist. I let go and watch her walk away, whipping the small spot of my blood from her lip.

"What do you want with me?" Quatre asks, completely frightened.

"If we kill you then we get all of the insurance money on the Savoy because we are now partners," Wufei holds the deed up high and powerfully. Winner snarls in anger.

"You tricked me you bitch!" Quatre yells.

"Join the club," I say spitefully.

"This is Chicago honey, everyone has a hustle," Roddy smiled, kissed Quatre passionately, and just as quickly as she'd puckered her lips to kiss Quatre she turned and pulled a pistol from her purse and shot Wufei, forcing him to drop the gun. He fell backwards, twitching his last breaths.

"I'm sorry Wufei, we had some good times, but Quatre is just a better lover," she bent down and kissed the blood soaked body and we all watched as Wufei Chang died again.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I asked after a sufficient moment of silence. 

"Oh honey, do you think that I would actually stay with that bastard after all he's done to me. Every infidelity, every slap to the face of my pride I'd been planning this."

"So you're just gonna run away with the money and your lover?" I asked, "people are gonna find out."

"Trowa, if you hadn't noticed, I am a manipulative, beautiful woman, do 

you think I would let some stinky cop catch me? Even you, honey, the man that can't catch his own sister's killer…" she turned her back on me and walked towards Quatre.

"What do you know about my sister?" I asked, anger seething from my teeth.

"I know everything about your sister. The way she stole my husband away from me with her cutesy whiles, always smiling, always flirting, I wanted nothing more than to kill that bitch!" If two large men weren't holding me back I would have tore her head from her neck.

"Roddy, darling, we should go," I hear Quatre say and watch as he puts a stilled hand on her shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere," two shots rang out and my eyes closed, instantly hoping that Duo, Hilde, someone would have come to their senses and shot this woman. The smoke cleared, my eyes opened and there she stood, still alive, but with a very dead Quatre Winner next to her. She looked down at him in his bloodstained white suit without any surprise. Then back up, everyone followed her line of sight to a petite, red-dressed, chocolate haired Jina Yuy; both women smiled at one another.

"What took you so long?" Roddy asked, bending down and leafing through his pockets.

"Are you going to loot the dead body?" Jina asked lowering the pistol to her pouty lips and blowing the smoke from it.

"What does he need it for? And while you're at it, dispose of his guards please," Roddy asked and that was quickly done. Before the guards that were holding me could move, they were shot down one by one.

"We should go," Jina said, "got the deed?"

"Yep," Roddy finished, both of them holding a pistol at me as they backed out of the room. As soon as they got towards the doorway they both took off running, the sound of clicking hills on the pavement, the only thing to give them both away. I gave chase, running and almost catching them until they both hopped into the mysterious maroon car that was parked outside earlier. I pulled my pistol, emptying the chamber and vowing to reload when I made it to the car. Duo pulled up quickly, blocking them in and I hopped in, trying to reload my pistol, while Duo handled the car.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I heard Hilde's voice over a cock of a gun and turned to realize that I was staring down the barrel of a pistol.

"Not you too," I said watching as Hilde backed out of the car and went to hop in with the girls.

"I really did like you Duo, but we're in a Depression right now, what's a girl to do?"

"Hilde, get in!" Jina yelled from the driver's seat and Hilde hopped into the back. Duo and I watched as the women drove off into the night sky.

"Shouldn't we chase them?" Duo asked, just as confused as I.

"No, it would do no good. Besides, I have this," I smirk confidently and pull out a shiny piece of paper."

"Is that the deed?" Duo asked me looking shocked.

"Yep, Quatre gave it to me a few days earlier," I said with a hint of pride in my voice.

"But that would mean that…"

"Yes, I knew all along as did Wufei," I hear Quatre coming from behind us. I turn and smile.

"But you…"

"Were dead. Yeah, those girls need to learn how to check a pulse before they think someone is dead," Wufei said smiling.

"The cavalry should be showing up in a moment. You guys better go, don't want them taking you in." Sure enough police sirens were blaring towards the warehouse and they were all following a maroon car. Wufei and Quatre hopped into Quatre's white Bentley and sped off in an opposite direction from the fray. The police cars cornered the women in the maroon car and the women sat there angrily staring at both Duo and myself. I, in an act of spite, pulled the deed from my coat pocket and smiled evenly.

"Check Mate," I mouthed to Roddy and a smirk tinged her features. Jesus Christ on a cracker she was still so damned hot even when she was being arrested and charged I would still want to fuck her. The cops quickly dragged the ladies, read them their Miranda rights and plopped them all in the paddywagon to hall them down to the big house.

"You orchestrated this whole plan, didn't you Tro?" Duo asked as we walked back towards the car.

"Yeah."

"When did you figure it out?"

"Well, remember when we found Hilde and she said that it was her earring that we'd found in the Dog Food plant, well it wasn't. I distinctly remembered seeing that same earring on Jina a few days earlier. So I wondered in the back of my head, why would Jina be in the Dog Food Plant with Hilde and why would Hilde claim an earring that wasn't hers. I also saw those earrings on Roddy the day before we found Hilde in the plant," I said with a prideful smile.

"So, you drew this case together because of a pair of shiny, silver trinkets that women wear on their ears?" Duo asked with a dumbfounded look on his face. I just smiled to him, put my arm over his shoulder and stroll casually back towards the car:

 "Like I said before, I never fail a case."

The End 


End file.
